Green Party Policies: Manifesto Pledges to Build 150,000 Homes a Year and Reach Net-Zero by 2040

The Green Party has set out a manifesto built on sustainable living, and its green party policies promise to build 150, 000 social homes a year and to achieve net-zero by 2040. The platform has taken on heightened importance after the party ousted Labour in Gorton and Denton, turning questions about housing and the environment into immediate political flashpoints.

Hannah Spencer: 150, 000 social homes a year and net-zero by 2040

Hannah Spencer, the MP for Gorton and Denton, framed the manifesto in stark terms, saying the party intends to build 150, 000 social homes a year and to reach net-zero by 2040. Spencer presented those targets as central commitments and voiced them defiantly, arguing the party would press ahead regardless of opposition. Those numerical pledges form concrete policy commitments that supporters and critics alike are using to measure the manifesto's seriousness.

Green Party Policies and the manifesto’s focus on sustainable living

The manifesto is explicitly based on sustainable living and on meeting the needs of constituents. Party messaging links those programmatic choices to an ambition to improve quality of life and to protect the environment. By prioritising large-scale social housing alongside an accelerated net-zero timetable, the platform ties domestic welfare goals to climate objectives: the intended effect is to raise living standards while reducing environmental harm.

Gorton and Denton: electoral impact and political tone

The campaign’s momentum was underscored by the party’s success in Gorton and Denton, where it supplanted Labour in what had been described as a Labour bastion. That win has amplified the manifesto’s reach and intensified debate over whether the Green proposals are feasible or politically disruptive. The electoral shift has prompted critics to characterise the party in alarmist terms even as supporters highlight tangible policy targets.

Denys Finch Hatton’s critique and warnings about strategic voting

Political analyst Denys Finch Hatton delivered a sharp critique, arguing the Greens aim to look after the most vulnerable and to improve the environment, a combination he described in emotive terms. Finch Hatton warned that the party’s programme would be devastating for fossil-fuel interests, invoking an image of fossil fuel billionaires being "crushed under vegan leather jackboots. " He also suggested the Greens’ agenda threatens long-standing political norms and urged voters to band together and vote strategically to prevent further division. Finch Hatton went so far as to say that if the Greens prevail, future generations could grow up without microplastics in their bloodstreams — presented in his view as an outcome that some find objectionable.

Tom Booker, 43, and a sidepiece on nostalgia

Alongside the political coverage, a separate human-interest item profiled 43-year-old Tom Booker, who reflected on his twenties as a decade defined by existential dread, financial anxiety and relationship turmoil but now remembered with nostalgia. Booker said that, despite poor prospects and a difficult job at the time, the twenties felt better in hindsight because he had hope and fewer responsibilities; he noted physical comforts then — his legs did not ache and his hairline was intact. His friend Martin Bishop predicted Booker will wistfully view his current life in two decades, bluntly concluding that "his life is utter shit. "

A publication note accompanying the pieces stated it was temporarily off Facebook while explaining irony to an algorithm, a self-referential aside included alongside the political commentary.

What makes this notable is the convergence of sharply defined numerical targets — 150, 000 homes a year and a net-zero date of 2040 — with a manifesto framed around sustainable living, forcing both policy advocates and detractors to address concrete trade-offs. The immediate effect is to refocus debate on measurable outcomes rather than abstract positions, while the broader implication is that electoral gains in places such as Gorton and Denton have made those outcomes politically unavoidable.