We are coming together in towns, villages and cities, to call time on cuts and climate catastrophe. Young people are rising up against the billionaires and corporations who’ve stolen our wealth, and the political leaders who maintain the system that allows it.
It’s time for the richest to PAY UP. Watch our launch video below, then sign up to take action with us.
the PAY UP campaign
PAY UP is a new youth-led campaign demanding that the super-rich and big corporations pay their fair share – to fix our crumbling public services, fund real climate action, and create a society where everyone can thrive.
In our country, the top 1% own more wealth than 70% of the population. And that gap, between us and them, is getting wider and wider. Last year, as we all struggled to afford bills, rent and groceries, billionaires added £35 million a day to their wealth.
Something is seriously wrong with our society when people like the Duke of Westminster can inherit billions tax free, and spend their days buying and selling luxury property for the very wealthiest. Meanwhile we spend over half our paychecks every month on rent to landlords who don’t care if our ceilings rot from mould, and many of us will never have enough money to buy a home of our own.
Billionaires like fossil fuel giant Jim Ratcliffe and far-right fanatic Nick Candy are raking it in. All whilst the planet burns and schools and hospitals crumble.
We’ve had enough of politicians telling us there’s nothing they can do about this. The bottom line is, this government is not taking on the people buying up our political system and rigging it against us. We need political leaders that are prepared to stand up to the fossil fuel executives, the corporate landlords, the super-rich CEOs and their shareholders. To stand up for us.
We want good hospitals and schools, buses that come on time and affordable trains. In the sixth richest country in the world, this shouldn’t be too much to ask. The government shouldn’t have to cut welfare and u-turn on investing in climate action. They shouldn’t allow millions of families to get poorer every year while failing to fairly tax the richest in society.
how we win
This government think they can cling to power while turning their backs on us. But Rachel Reeves and Keir Starmer are on the ropes. Their fragile consensus is not going to hold unless they to do something to fix our fracturing economy this Autumn when it comes to the Budget. We need that to be the moment they accept that we must make the richest PAY UP.
That’s why over the next six months we are going to rise up in our communities through a wave of bold, visible action. We will expose the richest villains in the UK, showcases our demands, and forces politicians to pick a side. Right now is the moment to build pressure. We need to deepen divisions in Parliament, and make a real crisis that forces them to shift their position.
This government already faces pressure from the right. It’s time they feel it from us too.
we’re rising up
We are teachers, nurses and bartenders. We are students. We are carers. We pay our fair share already, now it’s time for them to PAY UP.
PAY UP for a proper public transport system that we can actually afford to use.
PAY UP for schools that aren’t falling down and universities that don’t cost the earth. For a world where our teachers and lecturers are paid a decent wage.
PAY UP for an NHS where we don’t have to wait months to be seen, and can access mental health support when we need it. A system where our doctors and nurses are supported, not exhausted.
PAY UP for a Green New Deal.
who we’re up against
Nick Candy
Net worth: £1.5 billion. He’s Nigel Farage’s mate and official Reform UK treasurer, made his fortune developing luxury property and now ploughs it into far-right politics.
Jim Ratcliffe
Net worth: £23 billion. He made his billions from an oil and petrochemicals empire, loves a bit of fracking, bought Man United only to hike up ticket prices for fans.
The Duke of Westminster
Hugh Grosvenor. Net worth: £10 billion. An aristocrat (and so of course, a huge property and land owner) who controversially inherited billions without paying tax in 2017.
Denise Coates
Net worth: £7 billion. She’s made mega-bucks with her company Bet365, the online gambling business which made it possible to gamble anywhere, anytime.
James Watt
Net worth: £250 million. He is the co-founder and owner of Brewdog, a big fan of Elon Musk but seemingly less of a fan of his workers being paid the real living wage.
our demands
Our future is on the line. It’s time for the richest to PAY UP. The government must make this happen by:
- Making the super-rich pay their fair share. Inequality is soaring, with a tiny fraction of the population hoarding the majority of the country’s wealth. The government needs to introduce a 2% tax on assets over £10 million. This would raise billions of pounds per year for public benefit.
- Fixing our rigged tax system. The tax system has been built to serve the richest. They benefit from extremely low tax rates compared to the average person – and loopholes that allow them to hoard more wealth. The government needs to increase the amount of tax paid on property and shares so that capital gains tax is equal to income tax. The loopholes and tax havens that enable shareholders to rake in record profits and avoid paying back into our country need to be shut down.
- Stop using public money to bail out big polluters. Through rising bills and our own taxes, we are paying to clean up the mess left by climate criminals. Public money should be spent on our futures – not used up in giant loans to failing water companies or cosying up with energy lobbyists. The government needs to end subsidies to fossil fuel companies and stop siding with polluting shareholders, cutting ties with dirty donors and forcing big businesses to pay what they owe.
These measures could raise up to £50 billion a year to pay for the things we all need: good schools, hospitals, jobs and homes. We could build a world where we don’t just survive, we thrive.
