Give every household £320 for spiralling energy bills - Greens

Every household should be given £320 to help with "spiralling energy bills", the Green Party of England and Wales have said at the start of their annual conference in Birmingham.

In a speech, the party's new leaders said the £9bn plan could be paid for with a windfall tax on all landlords of private rented properties.

Co-leader Adrian Ramsay argued this could help people avoid fuel poverty.

The policy announcement comes amid energy price rises.

Earlier this month, around 15 million households saw their bills climb by 12%, as the energy cap was raised.

The energy regulator Ofgem has warned that the cap will go up again next April.

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Addressing Green Party activists in Birmingham, Mr Ramsay said their proposal was "about keeping people safe".

"It's about the state responding to market failure, it's about human dignity.

"Our proposal is what government should be doing to show leadership - it's an issue which shows how climate justice and social justice go hand in hand."

The party says it also wants to introduce a Green New Deal programme, spending £100bn on getting the UK to net zero carbon emissions by 2030 through insulation schemes and renewable energy.

Analysis

By Political Correspondent Ione Wells

The Green Party have reasons to be optimistic - they have a record number of councillors, their sister party is in power in the Scottish government, and they're feeling positive about their polling.

Rising energy bills and COP26 have got all parties talking about the need to move away from relying on fossil fuels too.

But they still have only one MP, Caroline Lucas, in Parliament. And more radical green groups like Extinction Rebellion and Insulate Britain - who the new leaders have actively distanced themselves from - have been making more front pages than the party in the last few months.

The new leaders are adamant they want to be seen as a party not a pressure group - but with every major party now trumpeting green policies, standing out is a key challenge.

Mr Ramsay delivered the speech jointly with co-leader Carla Denyer, a Bristol city councillor.

She said people had "grown tired of choosing the 'least worst' option, of being patronised, ignored and told what to think".

"We are tired of a Tory government playing divide and rule, tired of out of touch policies which ride roughshod over people, tired of politics which amount to little more than an old boys' club serving the interests of its pals," she added.

And she accused Labour of failing the public and failing to "take a stand on the biggest issues of the day".

Ms Denyer, a former engineer, said the Greens were committed to a pay rise for key workers, a universal basic income and ending the sale of arms to "oppressive regimes".

Setting out her party's strategy, she told the conference the Greens could "win elections in every corner of England and Wales... there is nowhere we can't win".

Caroline Lucas is the Green Party's only MP in Westminster

Mr Ramsay said he wanted to be part of the team that "gets our second MP elected, and our fourth and our fifth".

The pair concluded their speech by telling the audience this was "the last chance for serious climate action" and that "we and only we have what it takes".

The Greens are in government in Scotland with the SNP, but their sister party in England and Wales remains a minor voice at Westminster with just one MP.

However they have had more success at the local level winning 80 more council seats during elections earlier this year.

They currently hold 447 seats on 141 different councils.