A \u201cDoge of the left,\u201d could save up to \u00a330bn a year for taxpayers by rooting out waste, fraud and tax avoidance, according to the first report from a new green thinktank.<\/p>\n
Launched amid growing interest in the future manifesto of Zack Polanksi\u2019s Green party<\/a>, the Verdant thinktank will be co-chaired by James Meadway, a former adviser to Labour shadow chancellor John McDonnell, and civil society campaigner Deborah Doane.<\/p>\n In its first report<\/a>, the new group argues that a crackdown on waste, rather than the ideologically driven approach of Elon Musk\u2019s former Doge \u2013 Department of Government Efficiency \u2013 in the US, could free up significant resources.<\/p>\n \u201cThe political right have monopolised the discussion about savings in government spending, to disastrous effect,\u201d said Meadway. \u201cBreaking the false economies of Treasury thinking and vested Whitehall interests are an essential. A \u2018Doge of the left\u2019 would rinse out the tax avoiders, the profiteers and the fraudsters, and help deliver the high quality public services we deserve.\u201d<\/p>\n Doge, in the US, which was run by Tesla\u2019s billionaire boss, took the axe to the US development agency, and slashed projects seen as \u201cwoke\u201d, but the savings made fell far short of Musk\u2019s aspiration of $2tn.<\/p>\n Verdant says its ideas could be adopted by any political party, but with Polanski\u2019s Greens drawing ahead of Labour in some polls, the thinktank appears keen to influence the party\u2019s future manifesto.<\/p>\n Keeping a firm hand on the purse strings could be an asset for a Green party likely to face tough scrutiny from the bond markets, given the size of the UK\u2019s national debt.<\/p>\n Verdant says the UK should echo the approach of the New York mayor, Zohran Mamdani<\/a>, by appointing a \u201cchief savings officer\u201d, who could hunt out waste and fraud, instead of leaving the details of departmental budgets to be fought out solely in spending review negotiations with the Treasury.<\/p>\n The report calls for the National Audit Office (NAO), which scrutinises public spending projects, to be given the power to halt those that are hopelessly overspending; while public procurement, including for notoriously costly defence projects, would be opened up to more transparent competition.<\/p>\n And it suggests an internal consultancy function, working in a similar way as the existing Government Digital Service, could take on many of the projects now outsourced to costly private consultants.<\/p>\n The ambitious \u00a330bn in savings mooted by the thinktank is largely made up of independent estimates of the amount lost to the taxpayer each year through fraud, waste, under-collection of tax, and lack of competition in procurement.<\/p>\n Verdant also says tax reliefs and other government support for oil and gas producers, worth \u00a33.6bn a year, should be scrapped. \u201cAt a time of rising fossil fuel prices globally, there is little to no justification for lavish expenditures on socially harmful production of this kind,\u201d it says.<\/p>\n Polanski, who leads the Greens in England and Wales (the Scottish party is distinct) gave his first big speech on economic policy last week at a north London garden centre, hosted by the leftwing New Economics<\/a> Foundation.<\/p>\n He promised sweeping changes, including caps on rents and a new wealth tax. In contrast to Rachel Reeves\u2019s approach, he also said a Green government would spend \u00a38bn protecting all consumers, even the wealthy, from rising energy prices as a result of the Iran war.<\/p>\n