Rescuing
Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected
Dictatorship
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Come
back Gilligan, all is forgiven. Penny Young, Diss, Norfolk,
to The Guardian, February 24, 2005
Spin, not
face-to-face confrontations with the voters, is the Government's
chosen method of communication. Ordinary
people are dangerous. Ordinary people might ask a question
which throws a politician 'off message'; the Cabinet member
might reveal himself or herself to be a human being like
us, and not a programmed android. Worse still, he or she
might tell the truth. Ann
Leslie - Daily Mail, September 16, 2004
Power
cut, please
Labour's
pollsters have Tony Blair running scared, because they have
informed him that if turnout at the next election is below
50%, the result will be a hung parliament. This would be
good news for those of us who, viewing the damage inflicted
by recent governments, would like nothing better than a
Parliament powerless to do anything. Letter
from Ron Phillips, London W14 - Daily Mail 17/2/05
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Tony
Blair's pledge cards made no mention of pensioners. Perhaps
they're the jokers.
Letter
to the Daily Mail from Brian Green, Daventry, Northants
- February 22, 2005
The
Guardian's Polly Toynbee says 'a profoundly nasty streak'
among voters worried about poverty, crime and immigration
might cause them to vote against the Government. Isn't
it time we replaced the present electorate with one more
to Polly's liking? Ephraim Hardcastle,
Daily Mail, February 24, 2005
Back
to the future
'Forward
not Back' is quite wrong: we must go back - back to clean
hospitals with more medical staff and fewer managers;
back to education with proven standards.
Back
to police on the street and solving crime; back to increased
employment in industry, back to ministers who stand up
for this country and back to democratic government. Then,
perhaps, we can move forward. Letter
from S, M. Butler, Shoreham-by-Sea, Sussex - Daily Mail,
March 23, 2005
Stop
the gravy train
The
biggest worry that most politicians have after the 'NO'
votes in France and the Netherlands is how much longer
thay can keep the lucrative gravy train rolling. When
they are eventually kicked out of office here, they often
have a juicy Euro job to go to, plus their pension.
Why
does every aspect of our lives need to be controlled by
zealously enforced stupid laws, supervised by quangos
of cronies, monitored by umpteen committees and the results
then translated into 20-odd languages by armies of overpaid,
unnecessary pen-pushers?
Give
them all a new job description, a mop and a bucket and
tell them to do something really useful , such as getting
rid of MRSA from our hospitals. Letter
from A. McMurray, Luton - Daily Mail, June 6, 2005
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Britain
takes over as biggest contributor to the EU budget
By David Hughes, Political Editor, Daily Mail,
March 22, 2005
Britain
is about to become the biggest contributor to the EU budget just
as Gordon Brown begins fighting to preserve our rebate. The UK
will overtake Germany as Europe's leading paymaster following
a £1.7 billion jump in contributions, taking the total to
£4,3 billion. Germany in comparison, paid £4.1 billion
to Brussels last year and the figure is expected to be the same
this year.
News
of the rise in British payments comes as the Commission tries
again to claw back the UK rebate secured by Margaret Thatcher
21 years ago. The Chancellor travels to Brussels this week to
fend off efforts to phase out the rebate, which was worth £3.6
billion last year. Without it, Britain would have been the EU's
biggest paymaster for many years.
The
surprise rise in UK contributions was recorded in last week's
Budget Red Book. It has been caused by delays in counter-balancing
Brussels payments to this country as well as by rising customs
revenues from Britain's ports and airports, notably Heathrow.
Three-quarters of customs revenues goes to Brussels.
The
scale of the payment will still surprise many and cause Tony Blair
political problems. Labour has deliberately kept Europe of the
General Election agenda bus after polling day it will move centre
stage, whoever wins. Mr. Blair is committed to holding a referendum
on the new EU constitution, probably in September next year.
Already
facing widespread public hostility to the constitution, this reminded
of the high cost of UK membership of the EU will not make things
any easier for him. Even without the unexpected £1.7 billion
jump, Britain's EU payments are expected to rise steadily, climbing
over the £5 billion mark by 2008. But as the payments increase,
so does pressure on the UK budget rebate.
That
was secured when the British economy was one of the weakest in
the EU - it is now the second-strongest. This economic success
story is fueling demands for an end to the rebate and the Chancellor
will have his work cut out in Brussels this week resisting those
demands. One of his Treasury Team, Financial Secretary Stephen
Timms, tried to warn the Commission off last week, insisting the
rebate 'is not negotiable and is fully justified'.
He
also published a damning table showing that the UK gets less out
of the EU than any other member state, a position he said was
plainly unfair. The Tories have shown that Britain has been paying
two and a half times more per head in contributions than either
France or Italy, but has received far less in return.
However,
budget commissioner Dalia Grybauskaite said earlier this year
that countries like Britain should pay even more. Mr. Brown was
in Brussels last weekend rallying non-euro members against proposals
to give the EU powers to interfere in the economic management
of individual countries. He succeeded in blocking moves that would
have given Brussels new rights to 'monitor the public finances
of all 25 EU member states and even advise on policy changes.
He
also led the 13 non-euro members in resisting new curbs on medium-term
borrowing proposed by France and Germany.
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Perhaps
Ann Widdecombe was right about Michael Howard, but it
should have been KNIGHT with a K, and he could have saved
us from the monsters Blair and Campbell - Letter to
the Dail Mayil from Les Fletcher, Rhos-on-Sea, Colwyn
Bay, Wales - February 18, 2005
After
a clear vote against them, we still got eight non-elected
Regional Assemblies. When we vote against the EU Constitution,
we'll get them anyway. Letter from P.Cove, Aylesbury,
BUCKS.- Daily Mail, January 31, 2005
THE
TIMES slavish support for the Government worries some
members of the paper's staff, not to mention any perspicacious
readers who are left. Political editor Philip Webster
was questioned about this when he addressed colleagues
as part of an in-house 'masterclass' exercise. Small wonder.
One of his Blair-worshipping subordinates wrote a news
story yesterday poo-pooing the row over Labours anti-semitic
poster mocking Michael Howard, saying it was merely £5million
worth of 'free publicity' for the party. Ephraim Hardcastle
- Daily Mail, Febrauary 2, 2005
Hold
the front page
Further
to BBC bias (Mail), very often on BBC Breakfast and Breakfast
With Frost, coverage of the morning papers is censored.
If the front page of the Daily Mail is critical of Tony
Blair and his Soviet-style Government, it is not shown,
although the front pages of all the other newspapers are
shown. A supposedly independent broadcasting body is acting
as censor for this Government - an absolute disgrace.
Letter from Peter Fish, Chippenham, Wilts. .- Daily Mail,
February 17, 2005
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The
REAL NASTY PARTY- How
Labour is the true home of spite, bigotry and contempt for the
public
For
the health of our democracy, we, the people of the United Kingdom,
must find a way to force Mr Blair to resign
Such
defiance of the democratic process and the will of the majority
of we people of the UK, must be exposed by voters as a matter
or urgency, and not just in the two by-elections we have had this
July and the European elections in June 2004. But how can this
be done?
The
most effective way of getting our deceitful PM to resign would
be to mobilise the army of Labour MPs currently in the House of
Commons and get them to demand it, the loss of their seat to be
a penalty if they did not. All voters in Labour-held constituencies
need to write a letter along these lines to their local Labour
MPs:
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Dear
Despite
his absolute and unequivocal assurances over the past year
of the serious risk to our security of Saddam Hussein's
'weapons of mass destruction', Prime Minister Blair
has admitted, that the threat was non-existent. For that
critical error of judgement and for his gross incompetence
in handling this very important issue, I ask you to take
immediate steps to ensure that Tony Blair does the honourable
thing and resign without delay..
I
would therefore be much obliged if you would propose and
help mobilise a Parliamentary vote of 'No Confidence' in
Mr Blair which, despite Labour's huge majority, would leave
the PM with no option but to resign.
If
I get no reply to this letter, I shall assume you will continue
to support Mr Blair as our Prime Minister. In such circumstances
I shall not vote for you in the forthcoming General Election.
Signed:
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Simple,
non-violent, protest letters along these lines on a variety of
issues could be the basis for re-vitalising our democracy and
increasing voters' interest and participation in politics. Download
a printable copy of the above letter here.
There
is another way for the voice of the silent majority to be heard,
a voice that made sure broken promises would not only be revealed,
but punished in subsequent elections.
In
the year available before the General Election expected in 2005,
many topics are available as ammunition, each one asking questions.
A weapon for our purpose will be the results of Opinion Polls
in individual constituencies using ICM, NOP, Gallop, Mori
or YouGov.
Questions
suggested for this purpose are listed here.
CAST
YOUR VOTE ON A VARIETY OF OTHER IMPORTANT ISSUES HERE.
Current
and prospective Parliamentary candidates of all Parties running
for election could share a platform at public forums in every
constituency. They would be presented with the results of
polls on this issue expressed by the majority of voters in that
constituency.
The candidates could be asked if their own views and that of their
Party manifesto corresponded with the polls, and if not, how they
intended to represent the will of the majority of local voters.
Local and National Press, Radio and TV coverage would be arranged
and the results published on this web site.
Here
is another powerful strategy for using your vote effectively in
the forthcoming General Election. Send your sitting and prospective
MPs a letter defining your requirements if they want your vote.
This example deals with the proposed
EU Constitutional Treaty.
Your
letters would end: "If you do not answer
this letter, I shall take it that you intend to follow the Government
line. I shall act accordingly in the forthcoming General Election.
Or
why not create a questionnaire that you send to all the candidates
in your constituency, getting them to give yes/no answers to questions
of your choice, and ending it with the same paragraph(above).
Download
a printable example of the questionnaire.
It
is high time for the people of this United Kingdom to stop allowing
themselves to be manipulated by politicians. We need our representatives
in Parliament to genuinely reflect the view of the majority in
their own constituency, even if this means going against their
personal and/or their party's policy. While they may argue their
case, hoping to change the minds of the majority in their constituency,
they should ultimately be obliged to reflect the majority view
of those who elect them.
It
will be argued by politicians of all parties that most voters
don't have the knowledge necessary to express an opinion on important
subjects at issue, and that our vote is a form of delegated democracy.
We should argue that it is their duty to ensure that we voters
do have ready access to such information as is necessary to form
an intelligent opinion. That, after all, is one main purpose of
Opposition Parties in our Parliamentary Democracy.
Most
important of all, such proceedings would rekindle in voters their
latent interest and obligation to cast their vote, knowing that
the candidate of their choice would be more likely to act in accordance
with their wishes. A much higher turnout in elections would be
the result.
Contact
your local Party Chairman. Gain his support for setting up public
forums in your constituency on these, as well as any other relevant
topics, well before the next General Election expected in 2005.
You should then, depending on the integrity of the candidate of
your choice, feel fairly certain that your view on any subject
being debated in Parliament will more accurately be reflected
by your representative in that assembly.
