by Jonathan Dale and Manchester-Warrington Area Meeting.
The Quaker Socialist Society does not have an election programme or a view on party policies. Our ethical socialism is a question of values and principles, which may be applied by some in one way and by others in another. In our view the fundamental values, derived from George Fox and John Bellers, are Equality, Peace, Simplicity and Truth. We don’t include Sustainability, as some do, because that is often the policy of a political party. This does not mean that Quaker Socialists have no opinion about parties and policies. For example, our commitment to equality and peace rules out supporting Conservatives and some on the right of the Labour Party. The corollary of that is that we are more likely to support the Greens, and those on the left of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats. Much depends on the individual candidate. Nonetheless, we give no advice on which parties to support in a General Election.
The document below was prepared for the General Election by Manchester and Warrington Quaker Area Meeting, some of whom are Quaker Socialists. It does not recommend voting for a political party but offers some reflections on the sort of policies Quakers might approve. It is not presented here as any sort of definitive Quaker Socialist statement. If other Quaker groups with a social commitment send us their reflections we would equally be open to publicising them just as we have published this one. The policy judgements presented below are not endorsed by the QSS but offered for debate.
What Can We Say To Politicians Seeking Our Votes?
(Manchester and Warrington Quaker Area Meeting)
CONTENTS
MANCHESTER AND WARRINGTON AREA QUAKERS WANT TRANSFORMATION
Overview
QUAKER UNDERSTANDINGS OF ISRAEL/ PALESTINE AND THE GAZA CONFLICT AND
CALL FOR ACTION
Questions
TOWARDS PEACEFUL SCHOOLS
Recommendations from Peace at the Heart document
QUAKERS STAND FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE: GLOBALLY AND IN THE UK
What is our British responsibility?
What we’re calling for: Loss and Damage finance
What we’re calling for: A Fair Transition in the UK
Phasing out fossil fuels
Questions
TOWARDS A SECURE PLANETARY FUTURE
What policies do we want to see?
Questions
TOWARDS A RENEWED UNDERSTANDING OF DEMOCRACY
Questions
TOWARDS A MORE EQUAL WORLD
Policies and questions
WHAT MANCHESTER AND WARRINGTON AREA QUAKERS WANT
TRANSFORMATION
Overview
Quakers prize Peace, Truth, Simplicity, Sustainability and Equality.
Our institutions, our laws, our economic and social choices as a nation as well
as our democratic processes have markedly deteriorated over recent years. We
are further away from Peace, Truth Simplicity, Sustainability and Equality than
we were a decade ago.
The deep changes that are needed are essentially interlocking. The heart of our
economic life needs to be directed, on the one hand, to the determination to stay
within the planetary boundaries that will enable human life to be sustained; and
within a natural world that is valued and enriched. On the other it needs to be
directed towards a good quality of life for all. This will require both
fundamental change in the ways in which our economy works and very
significant taxation of the wealthiest. This needs to continue until gross
inequality is eliminated.
In turn this will significantly reduce the UK’s role in creating climate change, as
the wealthiest pollute far more than the average. It is also a precondition of the
renewal of democracy and a more truthful approach in our political life. One
aspect of this is that at present the wealthiest are able to acquire far too much
political power through political preferment and media ownership in particular.
Furthermore, a democratic nation that is capable of facing up truthfully to the
scale and impact of the changes in our national and personal lives which will be
required will have to discover ways of deepening and strengthening democratic
participation, perhaps by community or citizens’ assemblies involving far more
people in real engagement with the difficult choices we face. Examples of such
difficult choices might be: ways of limiting meat consumption, by price or
otherwise; whether to ban private jets and mega yachts; how and where to
rewild the countryside. Such decisions could be greatly helped by a well-
informed process of involving citizens.
Then again, if we are to stay within the essential planetary boundaries, we will
have to prioritize the things which we really need, and which are least harmful
to the environment. This means that war and the preparation for war should be
seen as an appalling waste of increasingly scarce resources. It is imperative that4
we develop institutions which seek to defuse conflict and to build a
collaborative approach to the global crises that we face. Peace education in
schools would be one essential approach.
Globally, we should be doing all we can to build justice into the net zero carbon
transition. This is our obligation both because we have far exceeded our fair
share of carbon emissions, having led the industrial revolution; and because a
very significant role in the creation of UK wealth, has been played by profits
from the slave economy and from the resources from our empire which was
created by military force.
We all have a voice. We have a vision of a very different world. We need to
challenge politicians to face up to the fundamental challenges of reducing our
demands on natural resources to get back within the planetary boundaries,
rebuild our public services again, drastically reduce inequalities both locally and
globally, promote a climate of peace and of trust and renew our democratic
practice in ways that actively involve people. The political parties are mostly
intent on narrowing down discussion. It needs to be opened up. Let us Quakers
in this area contribute to that.
QUAKER UNDERSTANDINGS OF ISRAEL/ PALESTINE AND THE GAZA
CONFLICT AND CALL FOR ACTION
The history of the Middle East for a long time has faced British Quakers with multiple
challenges to speak and act in terms of love and truth, which, together, form the bedrock of
our faith.
We recognise a significant British responsibility for the founding of Israel without the
agreement of the Palestinian people and without even affording them protection. We also
recognise the Holocaust left many, many Jews understandably intent on securing a safe
haven.
Quakers have a history of supporting both Palestinian and Israeli communities in the
contested territory. Years of inequality, injustice, violence, poor political choices and limited
peace attempts have failed both peoples and led to savagery. The daughter of Kibbutz Nir Oz
co-founder, 83-year-old Oded Lifshitz, told the Independent newspaper ‘He wrote a column in
2019 in which he said that when the Palestinians have nothing to lose, we lose big time.’
Oded remains a hostage.
And now respected Israeli, Palestinian and International human rights organisations recognise
Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians as meeting the legal definition of apartheid. These
include: Amnesty International, B’Tselem and Human Rights Watch amongst others.
That savagery has come to the surface since the Hamas-led incursion into Israel on 7 October
2023. It was self-evidently horrific and cannot be morally condoned. However, it has to be
understood as a consequence of the decades of oppression, violence and humiliation that
Israel has inflicted on the Palestinian people. Israel’s response which has focused uniquely on
force, with few bounds to its destruction, is profoundly mistaken. It will not bring peace in
the area any closer; except fortuitously by engaging the world in a new way with the need for
a permanent solution.
In January, the International Court of Justice warned Israel that its conduct in the war was
likely to be in contravention of International Humanitarian Law. In May the same Court
ordered Israel to refrain from a major assault on Rafah. Also, in May 2024, the International
Criminal Court’s Chief Prosecutor announced he was seeking warrants for the arrest of
several leaders of Israel and of Hamas.
Sadly, the UK, and the US have been amongst the states refusing to halt arms sales to Israel
and those disrespecting the decisions of the top International Courts.
Quakers worldwide have issued a statement with the following amongst calls to act, which
are here rephrased as questions to candidates/canvassers, etc. The whole Call to Action is
available on the Quakers in Britain website.
Questions:
• Do you advocate an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza now?
• Do you accept and uphold judgements of the international courts, and will you
try to ensure that the International Court of Justice’s provisions imposed on
Israel are carried out?
• Do you support an immediate end to the UK’s arms sales to Israel, and to the
importation of Israeli goods from the occupied territories?
Do you support an end to Israel’s occupation and the creation of equal protectio
and rights for all?
• Do you support an inclusive political process for peace that incorporates all
voices, perspectives, and political factions?
TOWARDS PEACEFUL SCHOOLS
Relationships are key to peace. At their best, schools create environments in which students
can learn, feel safe and develop skills and attitudes that will benefit themselves, their
communities, and society for the rest of their lives. Sadly, though outside pressures and
pressures within school can have detrimental psychological effects. Relationship breakdowns,
disaffection and demoralisation may follow.
Data from 3,000 education staff found 78% of school teachers report feeling stressed, 36%
reported experiencing burnout and 51% experiencing insomnia or poor sleep.
https://www.educationsupport.org.uk/resources/for-organisations/research/teacher-wellbeing-index/
Quakers believe peace education can aid young people as they navigate the difficult route
into adulthood. Peace education asks what better relationships mean and how they can be
cultivated by students and staff, on personal, interpersonal and wider world levels. As
students and staff develop the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to relate well and
respond to conflict creatively, a beneficial community ethos is formed. Cultivating these
skills assists young people in their own development and enhances their educational
experience. During their adult years, knowing how to look for the root causes of conflict and
having the confidence to work towards the best outcomes possible, is a huge benefit
considering the problems their adult lives will bring.
https://www.quaker.org.uk/documents/peace-at-the-heart-executive-summary
Recommendations from Peace at the Heart document follow:
1. Mandate. The governments of England, Scotland and Wales explicitly recognise a
duty to educate for peace, requiring schools to develop whole-school strategies for the
cultivation of healthy, engaged, fair relationships across the learning community and
beyond. Include handling conflict and encourage peer mediation.
2. Teacher training. Training institutions are supported to embed peace education as a
dedicated study stream for the initial training and continuous professional
development of school and college teachers.
3. Funding. A fund is established for work to enhance school communities and peer and
student-staff relationships, and to facilitate the strategic development of existing
training providers while seeding new ones.
4. Research. Governments commit resources for independent research and evaluation of
work in schools to enhance peaceful relationships, particularly restorative practices.
Question: Do you support the introduction of Peace Education into all schools?
QUAKERS STAND FOR CLIMATE JUSTICE: Globally and in the UK
What is our British responsibility?
Quakers are committed to equality and sustainability. We want to see a world in which all
living beings can thrive. Quakers have long noted the need to put equality and justice at the
heart of action on climate change. This means we have a special responsibility to those
countries that have used far less of the greenhouse gases than we have. This is because we
started the industrial revolution and used up our fair share of the carbon emissions long ago.
Already in 2019 Quakers in Britain recognised this:
“The climate crisis is a grave situation affecting us all, but it does not affect us all equally.
Most wealthy people and countries have so far escaped the worst impacts of climate
breakdown, while the poorest, who have done the least to cause the crisis,
are hardest hit.”
What we’re calling for: Loss and Damage finance
The impact that climate change is having on people right now is called ‘loss and damage’. It
includes fast events like people’s homes being destroyed by wildfires, and slow events such
as rising seas covering ancestral lands. At the UN climate talks in 2022 and 2023, countries
including the UK agreed to set up a Loss and Damage Fund to help people rebuild. They
pledged money to fill the fund. We now need whichever Party leads the Government after the
4 July to set out how it will raise additional money for this, rather than taking it out of
existing aid budgets. The government must make UK-based fossil fuel giants contribute to
the fund, because they have done the most to cause the loss and damage in the first place. In
this way, our Quaker approach to Climate Justice is that we need to make up for having used
more than our fair share; we need in short to make reparations.
We will not solve the climate crisis globally unless we do; for, if we don’t act justly rather
than selfishly in relation to poorer countries, there will be no lasting agreement on dealing
with human-induced climate change.
What we’re calling for: A Fair Transition in the UK
But we will not solve it either without acting in the UK to ensure that the transition is made
easier for those with the fewest resources.
Justice must be at the heart of our transition away from fossil fuels. We need to redirect
government funding to fair and sustainable solutions to the climate and cost-of-living crises.
This includes home insulation and support for workers and communities dependent on high-
carbon industries. Scotland has established a Just Transition Commission and a Just
Transition Fund, and the UK government could consider something similar.
By taking action on the climate crisis, we can address the cost-of-living crisis in the UK.
Renewable energy is increasingly cheaper; combined with a large, subsidised programme of
home insulation energy bills could be very much lower, which would be some relief over one
of the most oppressive aspects of the cost-of-living crisis.8
Phasing out fossil fuels
The UK is still far too wedded to fossil fuels, which harms our security and cost of living.
The UK government gives billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money to fossil fuel companies in
subsidies and continues to support existing oil and gas extraction and even, against the
warnings of almost all climate scientists, the development of new fields.
Questions:
1. Do you agree that we have a special responsibility for poorer countries in
terms of climate justice?
2. How should the UK contribution to the Loss and Damage Fund be
financed?
3. Should all new fossil fuel developments be prevented?
4. Should all subsidies to the fossil fuel industries be discontinued
5. Should government create a major programme of home insulation,
making it affordable for all?9
TOWARDS A SECURE PLANETARY FUTURE
We live at a time of great danger and uncertainty. Global power struggles and climate and
environmental breakdown threaten a liveable future. Despite vast amounts of money being
spent on weapons in the interests of ‘national security’ it is clear many people live insecure
lives, lacking even basic needs – food, water, a home. Without a change to the current security
model the future looks bleak.
Last year global military spending surged, reaching $2.44 trillion.
Russia spent 24% more than it did in 2022, Ukraine 51% more, and the UK 9% more.
It has been estimated the global arms trade is responsible for 40% of all corruption in global
transactions.
Right now, the climate crisis is ‘amplifying displacement and making life harder for those
already forced to flee’. Indeed the world’s militaries may contribute over 5.5% of global
carbon emissions. An urgent change of direction is needed.
What policies do we want to see?
The end points of https://demilitarize.org.uk/gdams-2024-statement/
We call on governments to reduce military spending and instead address pressing global
challenges that require all available resources. We must denounce the hidden interests and
pressures of the military-industrial complex.
•We call for real efforts aimed at global disarmament, stopping the arms trade and ceasing
arms shipments to countries in conflict. It is time for the UN General Assembly to commit to
a final date and structure for a Fourth Special Session on Disarmament, noting that the last
session was 36 years ago and that states have neglected their responsibility and duty to pursue
disarmament through the United Nations framework.
•We call on governments to prioritise justice over profits derived from arms trading;
specifically, we call on them to cease supplying arms to and buying arms from Israel and use
all existing means to push for a ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza.
We call for a sincere and active discussion on new and responsive international and
regional security architectures based on the ideas of common security and the United Nations
Secretary General António Guterres’ New Agenda for Peace. From Gaza to Sudan to
Myanmar, conflicts will not be solved by military means. We call for a global ceasefire; the
logic of peace must prevail over the logic of war.
•We call on civil society across local, national, regional, and international levels, to join
together in the campaign to combat the rising trend of military spending, to strengthen the
global movement for peace and justice, and to challenge decision-makers who seek to justify
a never-ending militarism in the name of our security.10
Questions:
Do you think UK military expenditure should be increased, decreased or
maintained at the current level?
What steps would you like to see taken to foster peaceful relations in the world?
Are you in favour of the UK purchasing a new generation of Trident Missiles in
nuclear submarines?
TOWARDS A RENEWED UNDERSTANDING OF DEMOCRACY
Parliamentary democracy as practised in the UK is failing to creatively tackle the immense
crises of our time. These include:
1. first and foremost, the urgent need for major changes to our economy, our social
institutions and lifestyles to meet the challenges of global heating and biodiversity loss.
2. increasing migration.
3. the increasing capture of wealth by the super-rich which results in damaging levels of
inequality
4. air, water and land pollution.
5. a renewal of most public services.
6. the wholly inadequate care for elderly people and much more.
Although lip service is paid to our current form of representative democracy, the reality is
that politics and politicians are increasingly distrusted; those involved are widely seen as self-
serving and out of touch. Political debate is both sterile in its polarisation and also by the way
in which an establishment view too often simply stifles debate.
In this situation, what we need is a well-informed and active citizenry. Instead, we have had
repeated attacks on those citizens who have understood the huge gap between public policy
and the scale of the crises that we face. The Government has made it more difficult for many
folk – predominately those who are poorest – to vote; they have made it much more difficult
for people to engage in protest by introducing new penalties for a whole range of actions
previously open to non-violent direct action.
Most of these new laws need to be repealed. Government should foster the contribution of an
informed and participative public. To this end, it needs to encourage the education system to
see as one of its fundamental goals, the development of active citizens.
A livelier space for political exchange would be encouraged by some form of proportional
voting.
Beyond that we should experiment with involving the public much more actively: Citizens
Assemblies might help to create the conditions for a more effective and widely accepted
response to issues such as Social Care, Air and Water Pollution, Flying and Climate Change
as a whole.
Abolition or drastic reform of the House of Lords would also tend to reduce the sense of
distance between those in power and those who most acutely experience its effects.
While much of the above shows the links between our ailing democracy and the great issues
of our time, there is also the very important issue of money and influence; this raises acute
issues of inequality of power which should be tackled urgently by the incoming Government.
To start with, the funding of political parties should not be distorted by huge donations; such
funding seems certain to buy both political influence and honours.
Beyond that we should support an inquiry into the financing of the media. There is no reason
why wealthy people should face so little control over their exercise of unaccountable power
through undue wealth. We must also limit the power of wealth and influence in Parliament. A
low cap on individual donations to political parties should be brought in,
We should aim to widen the political dialogue by introducing a form of proportional
representation. We need to use Citizen’s assemblies, not least to help Parliament to take
account of what folk, after informed debate, really want.
Immediately we see that this whole issue of the nature of our democracy is linked to our
Environmental concerns: it may well be that a more participative democracy would assist in
making better long-term and far-reaching decisions, such as halting climate change, than can
be made by a parliamentary system with limited means of really involving people.
It is implicitly related to racial justice through the issue of migration and to peace through the
potential for conflict over land, water, and human migration linked to climate change and
increased poverty in the global south. And inequality lies at the root of the problem.
The parliamentary system as it operates in this country is confrontational and is confined for
the most part to short-term political advantage. But this is the very opposite of what is needed
as we face ultimate decisions about the future of life on earth.
Instead, we need to foster a spirit of open exploration and a steady focus on the critical issues
which confront us all.
Questions:
• Would you favour repealing most of the recent laws that discourage protest?
• Are you in favour of a low cap on the size of donations to political parties?
• Are you in favour of experimenting with a more participative approach to policy
formulation, perhaps through the use of Citizens Assemblies?
• Have you any ideas for improving the standard of political discussion in
Parliament, in the press or in society more broadly?
TOWARDS A MORE EQUAL WORLD
Extreme inequality has grown monstrously over the last half century. As of now, globally, the
wealthiest 1% own as much as the rest of us, the 99%. Such gross inequality has been shown
to correlate with a marked increase in a society’s social problems – whether the crime rate,
mental health problems, alcohol and drug addiction and much else. That is true of the UK.
While some have much more wealth, income and opportunity than anyone needs, many have
virtually no wealth, far too little income and few opportunities to develop. More than a
decade of austerity under successive Conservative governments has substantially
disintegrated Beveridge’s vision of the Welfare State. The NHS and social care have been so
underfunded that many, unwilling to wait many months or even years, are resorting to private
medical care; growing numbers of children are being brought up in poverty; foodbanks are
expanding but struggling to meet need; teachers are increasingly having to find food for
hungry children or items of clothing; even those with decent wages face extortionate housing
costs and are exposed to almost instant loss of their homes; once one is homeless, the
prospect is often a room in a grotty hotel with no proper cooking facilities and nowhere for
children to play, or to do homework. The wealth of those who own the land, and the capital
needs to be shared much more fairly.
Moreover, we simply can’t afford to have a few wealthy people using their wealth for a
lifestyle which is tens or hundreds of times more damaging than the average, in terms of its
contribution to global warming: private jets and mega yachts simply must go.
Democracy is also unbalanced by the excessive power and influence of the wealthy. The
political system is too open to persuasion both by wealthy individuals and by powerful
corporations. And the same tiny segment of society has a stranglehold on much of the media.
Policies and questions
So, what are the policies which need to be offered to the public?
1. First and foremost, as a nation, we need to agree on the minimum income that is
needed for different households to be able to live lives which are not governed by
debilitating anxieties. Ultimately a universal basic income, whereby all the people are
paid the same income as of right should be seriously considered.
Question:
Are you in favour of establishing authoritative minimum income levels
and linking them to an inflation index
2. Secondly, we need to renew our public services which have been woefully run down.
We shall need major new funding as well as thoughtful reforms for Health, Social
Care, Education, Housing Local Government and the Legal System.
Question:
“How will you bring all public services back to good working order?
Where will you find the money?
3. Thirdly, we need to build justice into all the crucial measures to cut our carbon
emissions. Globally we need to provide capital and technical know-how to enable
countries to rapidly build up their generation of renewable energy. Locally we must
adequately subsidise home insulation and make the transition to electric vehicles
financially attractive for those on low incomes. Progress towards a zero-carbon world
must be based on justice if we are to stand a chance of persuading those on low
incomes to accept the measures that are needed. For example: we need to drastically
reduce the amount of flying; but this could be done by keeping costs relatively low for
a first flight and loading cost onto the frequent flyers who are generally well off
financially.
Questions:
• Give examples of how you would build social justice into climate policy.
• How would you raise the enormous sums which the UK needs to
contribute to the Loss and Damage Fund, for example, to compensate
poorer countries for the damage they suffer from climate change that they
have scarcely had any responsibility for?
4. Fourthly, we must reform the taxation system. Wealth should be taxed both to fund the
population’s needs and to progressively reduce the inequality which damages us in so
many ways. This will mean a wealth tax, an end to capital taxes being lower than
taxes on incomes, a major reform to Council Tax so that very valuable properties play
their due part. More generally, taxes need to be reduced on labour and increased on
goods and activities that are damaging to the health and well-being of both people and
of the natural world: plastic, fossil fuels, super yachts, private planes, also flying in
general – as by far the most flights are taken by those who are wealthy-, ultra-
processed foods and so on.
Question:
“Do we need a better approach to taxation of wealth? If so, what?
5. Fifthly, we need to reduce both the income gap and the gap in access to services that
affects many groups, including women and many ethnic communities. But also, gross
regional disparities.
Quaker Socialist Society 