Rescuing Democracy in the United Kingdom from our current Elected Dictatorship

Write this letter to your Labour MP to get rid of Blair

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

 

WWW silentmajorityspeaks.com

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

 

Why should we believe them now?

For years the Government denied there was an immigration crisis. Now, as an election looms, they've vowed to get tough

By Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of MigrationWatch UK - Daily Mail, Feb. 8, 2005

The Government is at panic stations. Its spin machine is in overdrive. What is going on? Quite simply, the British people have found their voice.

After years, even decades, of being bludgeoned into silence by false insinuations of racism, people are saying what they really think about present levels of immigration. Sneering at 'the tabloids' by the usual suspects will no longer wash. Opinion polls say it all: 77% disagree that Government has immigration under control, 75% are concerned about extra pressure on public services and a similar number believe that there are too many immigrants in Britain.

These are astonishing numbers. And it gets worse for the Government. Three-quarters of the public do not believe it is being open and honest about immigration and 45% say it will influence their vote at the forthcoming General Election. This explains the hints, nudges, winks and leaks that emerged over the weekend in the lead-up to yesterday's announcement of a 'five-year plan' for asylum and immigration.

It also explains an extraordinarily defensive article by the Prime Minister(? - webmaster comment) in yesterday's Press. He claims that the reason immigration is a difficult subject has nothing to do with political correctness, nor the risk of being accused of racism.

REALLY? He could have fooled me. His spin doctors have been smearing my organisation, Migrationwatch, for years. Even some of the facts in his article were misleading.

He said 90 million people pass through our airports every year. He omitted to mention that 60 million of these are British citizens returning home - hardly an immigration problem! Another 13 million are EU citizens who have freedom of movement to Britain, and millions more are North American.

Indictment

Those posing a potential immigration problem are therefore about one-tenth of the figure he mentioned. As for a five-year-plan? Where has the Government been for the past eight years as our border controls were allowed to crumble? The sheer length of the list of measures proposed by the Government is a damning indictment of its own record on immigration.

A major loophole has been abolition of any effective border controls. Every year well over a million visas have been issued to visitors and students, but no one bothered to check on their departure. Now the Government has announced plans for e-borders - electronic borders. An improvement on o-borders(open borders), but terribly late in the day.

Then there are the thousands of sham marriages and tens of thousands of bogus students, not to speak of one-legged roofers. The list goes on. For years Government has turned a blind eye to these blatant frauds. Only as an election approached did they begin to stir, but none of these frauds is yet under control.

Another sudden discovery by the Government is the thousands of unaccompanied children dumped on British taxpayers every year. The cost, for example, to Kent County Council, of a a 16-year-old is a massive £300 a week. And a recent court judgment means they may also have to provide support during further education beyond the age of 18. The millions of pounds the council spends will be reimbursed by central government - i.e. taxpayers - although councillors claim the full amount has not yet been repaid.

In 2003, 3,000 unaccompanied children arrived here claiming asylum. The year before, there were 6,200. This scandal has been going on for years, but the government has done nothing about it. It just hushed it up and charged it to the taxpayer. Now we are promised action.

We shall see. The collapse of our border controls has had wider consequences, leading to a substantial number of illegal immigrants. This has led to exploitation of foreign workers that is shameful in the 21st century.

If border controls are a shambles, Government policy is not much better. In fact, there isn't one. Former Home Secretary David Blunkett famously said: "There is not obvious upper limit to legal immigration." Yesterday#'s announcement did nothing to reverse this absurd statement.

Work permits were increased by 350% under the present Government to 145,000 a year. Dependents are additional to this total. After four years they can all, at present, apply for permanent settlement, and 95% are granted it virtually automatically, including a famous nanny. No thought has been given as to whether we need such workers permanently, with the full citizenship rights to which they become entitled. As Migrationwatch pointed out long ago, this will give a huge boost to immigration.

The Government has realised this and is belatedly trying to address the problem. We are told there is to be a points system for allocation of work permits, and no virtually automatic right to stay permanently.

Not before time. But a crucial element is missing. Will there be an upper limit to economic migration? It seems not. What does all this amount to? Well, it would be churlish to deny there are some steps forward - if they are taken. But they do not amount to the radical overhaul of the system which the public wishes to see.

Asylum

Tinkering with the asylum system will not do. Six asylum and immigration acts in 11 years have failed to fix problems stemming from a Refugee convention drafted 50 years ago for entirely different situations. In any case, asylum is less than one-fifth of foreign immigration, which approaches a quarter of a million a year. The other major immigration streams are work permits and dependents. These two also have to be gripped.

These latest measures are a start, but they are not enough. Many people are concerned, and rightly so, that we are losing our own culture. These concerns are dismissed, with typical arrogance, by Trevor Phillips, Chairman of the Commission for Racial Equality. He said recently: "People whingeing about how their communities are being changed are afraid of a shadow, but these people (illegal immigrants) are the real victims of the failure of immigration policy.

"The public worry about immigration and asylum being out of control, but the real crime is the effective enslavement of large numbers of people."

Somehow, I don't think people agree with his sense of priorities. Meanwhile, The Observer chimes in, accusing 'Labour no less than UKIP and the BHP of contributing to a hysterical climate ...' They have not realised that the whole scene has been transformed in recent weeks and months. The majority will no longer allow their concerns to be brushed aside.

The truth is that immigration and asylum are indeed out of control. The protection of our borders is a prime responsibility of government, and it has been ducked for years. The acid test is whether any party will undertake to place a cap of total immigration and manage it sharply downwards. If they do, public opinion will be reassured, and community relations will greatly benefit.

If they will not commit to a clear limit, and the measures required to enforce it, you can be sure that the rest is pre-electoral spin.

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Do you agree with the Tory proposal to screen all immigrants for TB, HIV/Aids and other infectious diseases? Agree strongly Agree Disagree Disagree strongly Don't know Don't care Click one of the links above to cast your vote Current results

STOP PRESS

 For the health of our democracy, we, the people of the United Kingdom, must find a way to force Mr Blair to resign

Mr Blair has lied and deceived us over Iraq. He must resign at once. Do you agree? Agree strongly Agree Disagree Disagree strongly Don't know Don't care Please click one of the links above to cast your vote Current results

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:

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:

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.

STOP PRESS