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
Virtues
of a secret ballot
Sir
- Concerning postal votes (report Mar 23) what is the
first principle of a democratic political vote? Answer:
THE SECRET BALLOT.
It
is obvious that a postal ballot is only as secret as the
moral strength of the voter. With the infinite propaganda
powers of today's electronic media, it is frighteningly
easy for devious politicians to promote politically correct
or "cool" or, most wickedly, "honest and
transparent" voting patterns, where someone failing
to vote "with his/her group" must "have
something to hide".
Postal
voting should, at best, be allowable only to persons who
are required to be stationed away from their constituency
on government business. A few temporary disfranchisements
may result, but nothing is perfect.
Letter from J. B. Lewis, Bognor Regis, West Sussex - The
Daily Telegraph, March 25, 2005
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Brown
fails to rule out overall tax rises
JAMES
KIRKUP, FRASER NELSON AND GERRI PEEV -
The
Scotsman - 8 April 2005
Gordon
Brown has given his blessing to a Labour manifesto that promises
a radical programme of market-driven public service reforms but
leaves open the question of tax rises after the general election.The
document to be released next week was agreed by Labour leaders
and senior members late on Wednesday night. While it is expected
to repeat earlier pledges on not raising the main income tax rates,
it will stop short of an outright promise that the overall tax
burden will not rise.
That
threatens to expose Labour to Tory attacks on the subject of tax,
especially when the opposition unveils the final stages of £4
billion worth of tax cuts next week. In a radio interview yesterday,
Mr Brown was unable to give an assurance on the total tax take.
But
the Tories were unable to capitalise on the opportunity as Labour
successfully sparked a new row over their choice of replacement
for Howard Flight, the MP sacked for saying the Tories had secret
plans for spending cuts. Nick Herbert, the new Tory candidate
in Arundel and South Downs, in 2002 wrote a magazine article suggesting
that the Conservatives were concealing plans for huge cuts in
spending, a revelation Labour seized on yesterday.
The
row over Mr Herbert, the director of the Reform think tank, helped
persuade the Tories to focus yesterday on health instead of the
economy. Michael Howard, the Tory leader, used his daily press
conference to promise to lead a "personal crusade" against
MRSA in English hospitals. Later, while visiting voters in Winchester,
Mr Howard echoed independent economists’ warnings that Mr
Brown’s spending plans would inevitably lead to higher borrowing
and higher taxes.
"If
we are to secure our future economic prosperity, government must
once again start to live within its means," Mr Howard said,
accusing Labour of creating a huge and bloated public sector,
a "bureaucratic Britain, where money is no object, where
you spend what you like, you employ who you like". Mr Howard
added: "Britain cannot carry on like this without storing
up huge problems for the future."
But
beyond Mr Howard’s off-the-cuff remarks, there was little
sign of a successful attack on tax from the Tories, and especially
from Oliver Letwin, the shadow chancellor. Conservative officials
admit that Mr Letwin struggles against Mr Brown. Their Labour
counterparts consider Mr Letwin one of the weakest links in the
Tory team, and Labour yesterday unveiled a poster asking voters
who they want to run the economy, Mr Brown or Mr Letwin. A similar
poster poses a choice between Mr Blair and Mr Howard. The two
posters were launched at a joint Blair-Brown event in London yesterday
morning, the latest show of unity between the two men.
Mr
Blair all but declared Mr Brown his chosen successor in an extraordinary
public rapprochement on Wednesday, and yesterday Mr Brown reciprocated
by heaping praise on his former friend. "Tony Blair is a
leader who is respected in this country and internationally for
being able to make difficult long-term decisions," the Chancellor
said at the poster launch.
"Under
Tony Blair’s leadership the Labour Party has modernised and
under his premiership we have modernised the country."
Behind
those words was the Chancellor’s acceptance of Mr Blair’s
agenda for shaking up public services in England and Wales, even
if that entailed giving private companies a role in the public
sector. In the past, Mr Brown has been sceptical of the Blairite
"choice" agenda, arguing that there are limits to the
role of markets in health and education.
But
Labour sources have told The Scotsman that the Chancellor has
indicated he is "absolutely happy" with the Labour manifesto,
despite Blairites’ insistence that the document will usher
in a new wave of public service reform. A senior Labour source
close to Mr Blair insisted that the reform programme outlined
in the manifesto would build on plans already set out in Downing
Street’s five-year plans for services.
Empowering
"users" of public services and letting them chose between
competing service providers, both private and public, will be
"absolutely at the centre" of the manifesto, one source
said.
Alan
Milburn, the Labour election co-ordinator, has for months been
drawing up radical plans for market-based reform. Among the ideas
being discussed is asking a Saudi-based chain of private schools
to set up in competition with sink state schools. In health, there
would be plans to break up the GPs cartel system - where a ring
of doctors can decide not to let a new doctor set up a practice.
English councils could also be forced to accept City Academies.
Mr
Blair needs Mr Brown’s credibility with Labour supporters
to deliver a solid majority. And Mr Brown needs to underline his
reforming credentials if he is to reach out to Tory sympathisers
who suspect him of "big government" tendencies. Those
credentials will be especially important if, as expected, Mr Brown
in time replaces Mr Blair as Prime Minister.
That
the truce remains fragile was vividly demonstrated yesterday when
the New Statesman magazine published a guide to tactical voting,
and advised its readers on how to use their vote to best hurt
Mr Blair and his supporters including John Reid, the Health Secretary.
Because the magazine is owned by Geoffrey Robinson, a Labour MP
and millionaire ally of Mr Brown, Blairites immediately suspected
an orchestrated move against the Prime Minister. Mr Robinson and
Mr Brown’s camp vehemently denied that, and New Statesman
journalists insisted they were acting independently.
The
Liberal Democrats yesterday concentrated on making an Anglocentric
appeal to parents, pledging to scrap GCSEs and A-levels in favour
of a new diploma system. Campaigning in Bristol, Charles Kennedy,
the Lib Dem leader, highlighted the party’s promise to axe
student top-up and tuition fees, hailing research that showed
a third of all students would vote for his party.
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Tactical
Voting
As
UKIP member for several years, I believe the greatest
threat facing the British is the potential loss of our
independence to govern ourselves. Once Brussels gains
complete control, everything else we are voting for in
the coming election is academic. The real decisions will
be made in Brussels by people we can't vote out.
Much
as I support UKIP's aims, I now believe the single most
important goal for British voters is to remove Blair and
his rotten Government before they complete the process
of removing our sovereignty. Only a vote for Michael Howard
will do this - Letter to the Daily Mail from Tony Beverley,
London SW10 - April 7, 2005
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.
