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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Expect
massive poll fraud, warn police
By
Tim Shipman, Sunday Express, March 27, 2005
Invitation
to fraud
Postal
voting on demand is not the only concern for the security
of the next General Election. The move to a 'rolling register'
has eclipsed many of the safeguards in our annual register
system.
There used to be 14 days between a draft register and
its final publication. Party agents would scrutinise the
draft and make 'claims' or 'objections'.
As
an experienced agent, I was consulted about the dropping
of 30 to 35 procedures of which claims and objections
were two.
Mr
Blair has dispensed with the time-honoured privilege whereby
Prime Ministers' jealously guard the election date.
Normally,
postal vote applications could not be accepted for a General
election until the date of that election was known. But
postal vote applications can be accepted early for an
election with a known date, i.e. the County Council elections,
on May 5.
Therefore,
early postal vote applications can be legitimately accepted
for both elections if on the same day, even though a General
Election has not yet been officially announced.
A
slack register, postal voting on demand, two elections
on the same day and the abandonment of once-rigid procedures
are in danger of leaving us with a system wide open to
fraud.
Letter
to the Editor from Jean M. Lucas, MBE, former Conservative
Agent for Wandsworth - Daily Mail, April 1, 2005
Millions
targeted in postal vote blitz
By
Darren Behar - Industry Correspondent, - Daily Mail, April
8, 2005
Millions
of union members are being targeted in a postal vote blitz
linked to Labour, it emerged yesterday. Several unions
are sending postal ballot application forms to homes across
Britain despite widespread fears about the safety of the
system.
The
massive exercise is designed to bring voters out in support
of Labour. Amicus with 1.2 million members, the Transport
and General workers Union with 800,000, and the Communication
Workers Union, which has 250,000, are among those to send
out application forms.
Britain's
biggest union UNISON, which represents 1.3 million, will
do something similar in the coming weeks. The unions have
sent an application for a postal vote to members, asking
them to fill it out.
The
form - which carries the union brand - also tells members
their details will be passed to the Labour Party unless
they tick a box. The filled-out form is sent to an office
in Newcastle upon Tyne which is linked to the Trade Union
and Labour Party Liaison Organisation, a Labour body designed
to boost coordination between the party and the unions.
Once
they reach Newcastle, the application forms are sorted
and forwarded to appropriate local registration offices
for each member. But the mailshot is likely to provoke
concerns that many members could be pressurised to vote
Labour by the party or union officials once they have
sent in their form.
The
forms are not sent to Newcastle in an envelope, raising
fears they could be tampered with on route.
David
Ward, 47, a CWU member, from Norwich, has received three
forms. He said: "The form could be handled by union
people, it has no envelope. It is wide open to fraud."
The
LibDems believe the mailshot will add to the potential
for fraud. The party's chief executive Lord Rennard said:
"Changes must be made to ensure that we know that
the people returning the votes are the people entitled
to them."
The
unions denied the mailshot was open to abuse and said
the simply wanted to ensure as many members as possible
exercised their right to vote and back Labour. They said
such a mailshot had been used in the past.
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The
General Election may be decided in the courts because of the massive
rise in electoral fraud. Both opposition parties are preparing
to launch legal challenges if Labour tries to steal marginal seats
by abusing weaknesses in the system.
Police
are so concerned about the 'industrial scale' of stolen votes
that they are set to bring in new instructions next month on how
to deal with increasing fraud. The Association of Chief Police
Officers believes recommendations they drew up in 2000 are no
longer coping with abuses of the system.
The
revelations follow an election court hearing last week in which
Labour Party members were accused of abusing the postal voting
system to steal council seats in local elections. A judge is set
to rule next month after the court heard Labour candidates were
caught by police in a warehouse last year where postal votes were
allegedly being forged. Muhammed Afzal, Mohammed Nazrul Islam
and Mohammed Amin Kazi from Aston ward in Birmingham have denied
any wrongdoing.
Of
the 7,000 postal votes cast in the Bordesley Green ward, it is
claimed up to 3,000 were stolen, falsified or changed with Tipp-Ex
in a ballot-rigging campaign. Labour candidates Shah Jahan, Shataq
Ahmed and Ayaz Khan also deny any wrongdoing.
The
judge last week said Labour's push towards more postal voting
- which the party believes will increase voter turnout - was an
'open invitation to fraud'. The Liberal Democrats, who are the
major challenger to Labour in many inner city seats where ethnic
minority leaders are accused of issuing instructions on how their
people should vote, are preparing to go to court again after the
General Election, which some pundits have predicted could end
in a hung parliament.
The
party's chief executive and senior election strategist Lord Rennard
told the Sunday Express "It's a cumbersome process but we
will look at the closeness of the results and the number of postal
votes. If we suspect the result has been affected by fraud we
will petition for it to be overturned. It cost us £5,000
each time we make a claim but we won't hesitate if results have
been changed by fraud. There is evidence from around the country
of the mass harvesting of votes by the Labour Party. We know of
people going door-to-door and collecting postal ballots to fill
in themselves."
Shadow
Constitutional Affairs Secretary Oliver Heald said: "The
Government has dragged its feet. The Electoral Commission has
already voiced serious concerns about all postal voting systems.
The integrity of our democratic system cannot be allowed to suffer
just because Mr Blair won't admit that his Government got it wrong
in pushing ahead with all-postal voting."
He
added: "New anti-fraud measures must be introduced and until
they are, conventional voting by ballot box must be restored."
At
the moment the head of each household can register everyone living
at the same address. It is not necessary to produce proof of identity
to vote and postal votes can be delivered to addresses different
from the one where a voter lives. The weaknesses have led to investigations
into possible electoral fraud in Reading, Cheshire, Derbyshire,
Lancashire and West Yorkshire. Liberal Democrat deputy leader
of Birmingham City Council, John Hemming, who helped draw up the
petitions in Birmingham, has campaigned for years against stolen
votes. He said: "Voter fraud used to be a cottage industry.
Now it is being carried out on an industrial scale."
A
report by the Association of Electoral Administrators, seen by
the Sunday Express, warns: "The opportunity for fraud is
abundant. There is little or no opportunity for Electoral Registration
officers to validate applications. There is a need for the secrecy
of the ballot to be maintained. Political party involvement with
the completion of both the applications and the postal ballot
papers at these stages must be removed."
The
association now recommends "individual registration"
at the electoral register stage so that officials would have a
database of signatures to check. The Electoral Commission is backing
the association but so far the Government has refused to act.
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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.
