The Ruin of Britain's Parliament - Where we stand series

The Ruin of Britain’s Parliament – Where we stand series

As we all sit open mouthed at the startling audacity of MPs’ wild expense claims, people both inside and outside politics can only shake their heads in disbelief. The opinion of the man and woman in the street is far clearer; they are convinced the only second home allowance they should pay is for a very small cell in a very big prison. What on earth has happened to our previously most cherished institution, and how can it be fixed? Indeed, can it be fixed?

If we look closely and compare the reactions of the ‘man in the street’ against individual ‘guilty’ MPs and the shrieking self-righteousness of the media expose, then we can begin to analyse what’s going on. The facts are these; everyone has known for years that MPs are ‘at it’, that ‘they are only in it for themselves’, that ‘they are all the same’. Everyone knows that the national media, especially in the past, are well ‘up for it’ when it comes to enjoying perks that, let’s say, go a little beyond propriety. And everyone else, including me, has at some time or other taken the odd paperclip or other stationery item, borrowed a stapler and forgotten to give it back, taken odd bits of material laying about, expanded expense claims a little, if we’re lucky enough to have them etc. It’s human nature to try to get something for nothing. So as Jesus said; ‘let him who is without sin throw the first stone’.

In the public’s eyes, something bigger must be going on than MPs fiddling at the taxpayers’ expense. We’ve always known about that and expected it. I think the telling difference lies in MPs’ reaction to being caught. Instead of a grovelling apology or even a resignation or several, we are told by each of them that they did nothing wrong because the rules allowed it! The Speaker and others actually castigated the press, and the leaker of the information, for letting the cat out of the bag and making the cosy deals available for public gaze! In other words we were given a big raspberry by the shameless parasites and told to mind our own business. That’s what members of our Mother of Parliaments really think of the people who elected them. They almost, very nearly, got away with it and that’s what has so outraged ordinary people. Thank God for the media. Let me tell you here and now that I will never complain about the media while they continue to burst the bubble of pomposity and hypocrisy wherever it resides.

Even now, as MPs rush to write cheques and proudly wave them as testament to their contrition, most have absolutely no idea of the critical damage they have done. The street mugger who returns a purse devoid of money, credit cards and personal possessions has not suddenly paid his debt to society. It takes an awful lot more than that. It is confirmed now that our representatives in Parliament really don’t care about the rest of us at all. Suddenly we realise there’s something terribly wrong with our democratic process. There’s even a strange, very British kind of silent and sullen revolution in the air. And when the British are roused, watch out. This time the solution requires more than another game of musical chairs where one party falls while another takes up where the previous one left off.

What’s really happened is this: many of our MPs feel they have no real purpose; they can’t influence events to any great extent. It started with Thatcher and has got worse. The managing of Britain has been outsourced. Decisions are made by Whitehall mandarins, privatised public sector companies, big business, political advisers, a coterie of the most senior ministers, the EU in Brussels, and new vigorous parliaments in Scotland and Wales. Westminster MPs are just canon fodder tied to the party line. Mark my words, when clever people like these become bored, and no-one’s watching, they tend to get themselves into a lot of mischief. Westminster MPs have turned into a new breed of courtier. Their only purpose is to hang around until they’re required to agree with their prince. The British people are nowhere in this decision making process and as such we count for nothing. When things are rosy we put up with it, but when things are dire like now, where we suffer and they don’t, then the confidence trick is exposed. We are victims of a democratic sleight of hand and we don’t like it.

There is a solution that a lot of people are slowly waking up to. Anybody who follows UKpopdems or knows what we stand for is clear about the answer. Ordinary Britons should have much more power and government, whether national, regional, local, or EU come to that, should have much less. The golden rule is this: he who pays the piper calls the tune. We pay the piper alright, up to 50% of our wages, so we should call the tune. We need to turn the pyramid of power over onto its point so that ordinary people are at the top and all those self-important busy-bodies who dictate to us today sit at the bottom. They’ll learn fast how to truly serve our needs then. One day soon, I hope, the people of Britain will recognise that UKpopdems understands beyond question that successful democratic leadership can be achieved only by taking the honest, perceptive, dedicated and humble role of a servant to all the people.

MPs should always be the peoples’ servants; running the estate (our nation) on their masters’ behalf and making it prosper. Stealthily, over the years, the servants have taken over the estate for their own purposes and enslaved their proper masters. They have drunk all the best Port, eaten all the caviar, gambled away the masters’ fortune and failed to repair and maintain the estate so it is now crumbling. We have to find the strength to round them up and force them back into the servants’ hall, whipping them soundly until they understand this must never happen again. It can happen if we’re brave enough.

Back from the economic brink - where we stand

In these potentially disastrous recessionary times it’s fair that all parties, big and small, honestly review their most cherished policies based on today’s conditions rather than the ideal or ‘normal’ conditions parties expect to find in government. UKpopdems is no exception and this addition to the party’s WHERE WE STAND SERIES, aims to do this.

First, I believe there is no totally new kind of recession; we have been here before. Because the banks seem at the forefront of current problems many pundits – the same pundits who failed to see the recession coming in the first place – think we are back in the great depression years of the early thirties. I don’t think so. Chancellor Darling is on record as saying that Britain is suffering the worst downturn for 60 years and I think he is right: this is a repeat of the 1946-52 ‘austerity recession’. Overwhelming debt was the problem then and it is the main problem today. The pound suffered greatly, there was threat of deflation, house prices tumbled, individual spending ground to a halt and Labour were in government – just like today.

Then, it was the private health sector that collapsed and this prompted its nationalisation and renewal as the National Health Service. Today it’s the collapse of the banking sector and, look, the start of an effectively nationalised bank service. Although the recession then was long, as this one will be, the bright side is that the subsequent upswing burst into life in 1952 and continued steadily to benefit living standards for over twenty years. Brown thinks he is ahead of the world with economic solutions but really he is just following the same path as the US money men, pouring cash into the banks and probably industry as well. This is the right thing to do; there is no such thing as a ‘free world’ without thriving banks and industry. But, just like the US, Brown has bottled out of the next logical step of nationalisation, and this is a big mistake.

UKpopdems are pressing for a fully nationalise RBS which, together with already nationalised Northern Rock, and possibly together with Lloyds and The Post Office would create a taxpayer backed Mortgage Bank, Lending Bank, Savings Bank, Investment Bank and Social Bank, giving preferential terms to all British taxpayers and British based businesses; terms that are significantly better than any other bank. This is fair. It is quite acceptable that owners and shareholders should get preferential terms. In addition, as shareholders, tax-payers must have the opportunity to elect the bank’s executive directors, not government bureaucrats and hacks. Just like the creation of the National Health Service in the ‘Austerity’ recession, the creation of the national bank really would be a legacy of equal standing Britain could be proud of. Boosting responsible business, mortgage and even personal lending will put a base line under asset values that everyone is looking for, creating the confidence we need to slowly move up and out of the recession.

The national bank won’t be the most efficient or profitable, but when people need support, they can be confident in getting it. This step is not so radical and could have knock-on benefits too: the restoration of village branches via an expanded post office network, for example; the statutory and safe home for government, local authority, community and state business savings; a ring-fenced hub for community capital projects, social lending and flexible benefit payments: and a centre for financial advice of all kinds.

What about UKpopdems many cherished policies that promise financial and social wealth; real power and a strong voice for all Britons; as well as pride in Briton and our place in the world. First, let’s remember this is a recession caused by debt; government debt especially. If Brown really had been a competent and prudent Chancellor then instead of wasting our money in mad excess, he would have saved it to ensure Britain possessed a cushion of cash surplus for recessions such as this, just like many other countries. Instead he played the role of the foolish virgin who wasted her lamp oil and had none left when it was truly needed to light the way forward. Countries that have cash surpluses now will weather this storm far better than Britain, and Britons will suffer for that. It means that whatever the government does, whatever opposition parties want to do, whatever UKpopdems wants to do to correct the vast failures of the past, they will all have to be financed by more debt. Every pound sterling of debt now will have to be paid back later, either by taxpayers or in some other way such as the disastrous spectre of high inflation. So using debt wisely is imperative.

Priority one is to protect jobs where practically possible and this includes public sector jobs, too. A national bank would underpin lending for individuals and companies but more will have to be done to avoid creating unemployment needlessly. Our cherished policy of eliminating waste will have to wait for better times. You see, one person’s waste is another person’s job. It would be madness to spend money saved by eliminating waste only to spend it on supporting new jobless Britons. We won’t do it. Nor can we expect business to take on full employee health responsibilities and better pension payments in exchange for a zero corporation tax: corporate profits just aren’t up to it and won’t be until the recession is over.

What I do want to do is use debt for three key purposes in the short term:
1. To broaden and deepen democracy by empowering individuals and communities. This means gradually strengthening Parish and Community Councils by moving existing professional support and resources out to those communities able to accept it; and giving those communities who are ready an overriding say over local authority decisions.
2. To strengthen front-line services through the genuine natural staff turnover of back-line public service personnel such as administrative, managerial, control centre and bureaucratic staff. Generally, as one back-office public sector person leaves, a new front-line delivery person will be employed where they can best be used and are most needed.
3. To put real money back into the pockets of individuals and families. Billions have been given to banks; billions will be given to businesses and corporations; yet Brown has been incredibly tight-fisted with those who really matter, ordinary people. The fiddling with VAT has been a dismal failure and should be reversed. I want to rebalance the equation in favour of people and give each household over a thousand pounds of real extra money to spend each year. This would be done by completely abolishing Council Tax; the worst, most unfair and divisive tax ever invented. That would pump more than £25billion of spending power straight into the economy every year, doing its bit to save shops and the High Street.

The government also needs to demonstrate new and daring strategies. For example, there are many countries with cash surpluses but potentially dire declining trading performance. Britain should be working directly with those countries – Japan, China and others to find win, win solutions. One approach could be to negotiate the provision of money-off or free vouchers to consumers who purchase products of that country, keeping goods and trade flowing. Both Britain and those other countries benefit through maintained jobs and skills. Now that would be a world leading first.

Any of UKpopdems policies that can be implemented without creating needless debt we’ll try to move forward with. We will especially push for anything we can do to repair Britain’s broken social infrastructure and weakening democracy because this is what our country and people sorely need more than anything else. When conditions improve this time we want to see the beginnings of a new age of wealth matched by social well-being, confidence and pride in a strong and truly democratic Britain. That’s what UKpopdems is working for.

Breaking Britain’s Bureaucratic Dictatorship – Key Issue Series

We go behind the published policy summaries to explain in some detail how UKpopdem goals and policies work together on one of today’s major issues.

5. Breaking Britain’s Bureaucratic Dictatorship

Past union power
In Britain in the 1970s, conditions were dire and this country was heading towards becoming a banana republic, a third world nation. What was the cause of this nightmare? It was due primarily to the unions but fuelled by poor government. Long beforehand, these organisations (unions) were set up with the best intentions of protecting workers from bad employers who abused them in terms of low pay, long hours, unsafe working conditions, minimal breaks and bullying, overbearing attitudes. Unions were very successful, but in the 50s and 60s something happened: government mismanagement led to higher inflation and as a result union bosses started to make outrageous demands. They began to flex their muscles and abuse their own position of power with regard to ordinary people. Instead of fair pay for fair work they wanted more pay for less work. It was a sort of revolutionary coup attempt where unions had the means to stop up the system; and they did it. Eventually, the Labour government of the time was brought down and Thatcher won by a landslide. Ordinary people were suffering. They wanted the problem fixed and they knew Labour couldn’t hack it.

The beginnings of bureaucratic power
Everyone knows that Thatcher broke the unions. But she did it in a way that, ever since, created a divide in Britain. Instead of targeting union big bosses and their organisation she used the police to crack the heads of strikers; the foot soldiers of the unions. That was like punishing drug addicts while letting the big dealers go unmolested. But break the unions she did. What is not so well known is that Thatcher sowed the seeds for the bureaucratic situation Britain is in today. She instigated the process of introducing big business into government and growing a bureaucracy to control and monitor the delivery of public services. New Labour continued this bureaucratic growth, adding layers and layers of processing, controls and targets and deeper and yet deeper insertion of profit making enterprises. You won’t find this in government statistics but UKpopdems estimate that for every real public sector delivery person, like a nurse, porter, teacher, home help, prison warder, there are as many as two bureaucrats: that is, perhaps two million real front-line deliverers and up to four million bureaucrats and managers to control them. Taking private sector resources into the equation the situation could be much worse than this. It is indeed dire.

A bureaucratic dictatorship – really?
Ok, you might say, things are not so good: but a bureaucratic dictatorship? Yes. First let’s look at reality and define bureaucracy. Bureaucrats in this context are not suave people with bowler hats; they are ordinary people who mistakenly have been put into positions to create and administer processes and rules to stop things happening or slow them down. It’s not deliberate, just wrong-headed. Collins dictionary defines ‘bureaucrat’ as: ‘an official who follows rules rigidly, so creating delays and difficulties’; and ‘bureaucracy’ is likewise defined as: ‘any system of administration in which matters are complicated by minor rules and take longer than they need to’. In the old days of British Public Service, bureaucrats existed as vocational career specialists but there were far fewer of them, many less than the everyday workers who delivered services to people who needed them. In those days delivery resources such as police, health workers, road sweepers, even, were expected to do the right things, to the best of their ability for the individuals, families and communities they served, working mostly on their own initiative to complete the job. Now centralised bureaucracies have grown to such levels that no public servant can deliver what ordinary people need without a maze of rules, checks, processes and targets. Everyone knows that the public sector is costing more and seemingly delivering less. As bureaucracy grows, new super bureaucracies make rules and processes for lesser bureaucrats and they in turn need yet greater bureaucracies to monitor and control them in turn. The system is stopped up just as in the days of union power; now it is bureaucratic power that is abusing its position.

Visioning bloated bureaucracy
The result is dire because not only do people who need help fail to get the support they want, but increasing billions of pounds are wasted on bureaucrats that could be spent better on front-line delivery. Much worse, hundreds, maybe thousands of companies and individuals supplying resources, systems and consultancy to support the bureaucracy business are getting rich on tax-payers’ money. This means, bizarrely, that ordinary citizens like you and me are handing over more of our hard-earned money to get a worsening service; the money being sucked up by increasing numbers of bureaucrats whose job is to stop the things we want from happening in the first place! The business is now so big and so complex and so controlling, that government itself seems powerless in its grasp. The picture comes to mind of a huge, obscenely bloated body, so burdened by its own weight it is unable to move except for one hand which, seemingly of its own volition, shovels cash into its gaping maw from a pile of money continuously replenished by the turned-out pockets and purses of ordinary working families. The government brain may want movement but is powerless. The picture is made worse because it is the private sector which is supplying the scaffolding to prop up the body; providing the mechanics to assist the arm in moving to grab the cash, and contracting the earth mover to push the money-pile into the hand’s path!

Fixing the problem
Britain, truly, is in the grip of a bureaucratic dictatorship and it needs to be broken: not in the Thatcher way by cracking the heads of front-line deliverers but by turning the public sector upside down in the UKpopdems way. Instead of service delivery heading up through layers of bureaucracy ultimately to the controlling and unelected elite of senior Whitehall mandarins, UKpopdems will make sure public services operate under the democratic control of the individuals, families and communities who pay for them and need the services. The job of government is then to enable rather than control and make sure public services look outwards to the people they serve rather than inwards to their controllers. Achieving this is not a five minute job but a defining, systematic process that demands focussed effort over the long-term to completely eradicate the bureaucratic blight. Then Britain once again can be proud of a public sector that focuses on doing the right things in the right way as measured by individuals and communities; not remote central departments or government. How can it be done and what is the UKpopdems way?

Moving resources to the front-line
First we must remember that bureaucrats are people, too. It is not their fault. Private industry consultants and suppliers employ people as well and it is not their fault either. UKpopdems, when in government, has promised to put the people first. We are guaranteeing this by turning over the pyramid of power so that ordinary people are at the top and government at the bottom looking up, which is how it should be. What we are confident of is that back-office workers do not really want to be bureaucrats who control, target and process peoples’ needs remotely. High back-office staff turnover demonstrates the truth of it. What they want is what every public servant wants and that is to do the right thing in the right way to directly and rapidly serve the needs of the people – and be appreciated for doing it. We’ll make sure that no bureaucrat or back-office worker is forced out of a job. What we will do is to gradually move centralised staff to the front-line by prioritising public-facing roles, and reduce bureaucracy by natural turnover. Our ultimate aim is to increase numbers of front-line delivery specialists working directly in communities by 500,000 or even 1,000,000. We’ll do whatever it takes to deliver the right services in the right way to the right people; there is no place in the delivery system for bureaucrats who stop or slow down progress. We also need to ensure numbers of administrators and managers are not excessive as a proportion of front-line deliverers either; and we’ll set this ratio at no more than 30% of the total of front-line delivery resources. It can be done and people will not be forced out of their jobs.

Creating new real jobs
You can see by looking at UKpopdems big policy initiatives that we are creating millions of additional jobs elsewhere in the public and private sector so no-one need be in fear of losing employment. Look at UKpopdems ‘Right to Work’ initiative; or ‘Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution’; or our plan to eliminate corporation tax etc. and you can see we are planning millions of real new jobs. In addition, we’ll be offering front-line resources considerable wage increases when they agree to the new working conditions necessary to meet the high expectations of their local communities. In a document such as this it is not possible to explain fully how UKpopdems new front-line working procedures will operate in every circumstance but the general is explained here in a way that will give a clear route to the particular. In our published goals we have promised the people that when they really need help it will be given simply and thoughtfully. That promise is the backbone of our front-line service delivery policy.

Services working directly for you
Apart from teachers in schools and health workers in hospitals, clinics etc, we expect most front-line services will be delivered right there in the community that needs them. When UKpopdems define community, we are talking about small communities; Parish and Community Councils. And there will be many more resources – at least an extra 500,000 and up to 1,000,000 more than there are today. 250,000 of these will be additional policemen and women and they will have a dual role: 1. to reduce crime, especially violent and other serious crime, and to work with the justice system to remove violent and serious offenders from the society they are harming: 2. To play a social role in the community, to get to know the people in the community and ensure that anyone who needs help of whatever nature can get it. This means that there will always be someone easily accessible to turn to in your community when you or someone else needs help. Public services will be delivered by people who come to your door or reside in a small office or house nearby. They will work in small teams that can get to know individuals and the requirements of the community and determine needs quickly, simply and thoughtfully. Sometimes, additional expertise from outside will be necessary, but those specialists will still come to you rather than you going to them, unless you prefer to do that. Effectively, all these resources work for the community through the Parish and Community Councillors you elect; so in a real sense they operate for you and therefore will have your best interests in mind when they are addressing your business.

An end to central targets, controls and processes
There will be no need for bureaucratic processing, controls or systems beyond what the delivery resources themselves need to do their jobs. Of course there is a very real role for civil service departments, but it is not one of control, delay or veto. The central role will include two things: 1. setting the national and regional standards by which front-line resources operate: and 2. Collecting and managing information that needs to be reported, such as costs etc. None of these will force extra reporting or control criteria on front-line resources, but be collected naturally from the events of the work or from community administration. Schools and hospitals will work differently because of their locational needs, but will put the patient or pupil at the centre of their service in the same way. In the health service clear roles will mean that doctors and surgeons are responsible for treatment and nurses responsible for care, with all ancillary resources brought back in-house under the appropriate control of nurses or doctors/surgeons. In schools the basis of teaching will revolve around the best learning needs of the pupil so that his or her maximum potential can be realised. These are both very complex services and separate UKpopdem policies have already been published for each of them. But you can imagine that a public service like NICE for example, so much in the news recently, would be changed to promote and enable rather than control, delay and stop the right things from happening.

A return to public service vocation
Our goal is to all but eliminate bureaucracy over ten years and to do this in a way that does not disrupt services, but improves them to the satisfaction of every man, woman and child in Britain; for it is you who should be the measure of success in delivery. Public service is not about ultimate efficiency and the complete eradication of all waste. But it is about quality and vocation and that’s what we and we know most people want to return to; doing the right things for the right people in the right way.

Governing for Success in a Downturn – Key Issue Series

We go behind UKpopdems published policy summaries to explain in some detail how UKpopdem goals and policies work together on one of today’s major issues.

4. Governing for Success in a Downturn
How to come out stronger than going in

The Problem
This downturn is going to be tough for everyone and ‘austerity’, a word we haven’t been used to in modern times, could be everyday life for ordinary people. The key test for government is this: is Britain going to come out weaker than we went in or stronger? What happens in this downturn will create the foundation for Britain’s place in the world for years or even decades to come. Will an incompetent Labour or Tory government destroy Britain’s economic wealth, social cohesion and international standing; or will new energies drive for novel and dramatic opportunities that give our country two, three or even five times the economic, social and international strength we have today? It’s depressing that neither of those two parties have anything to offer apart from tinkering around the edges of the status quo. They are burying their heads in the sands of political dogma and they’d better pull them out fast or hand the torch on.

Involving the People
Actually, implementing strategies to make sure Britain comes out much stronger is not that difficult. Just ask the millions of ordinary people, and in their own way they’ll tell you, that’s what UKpopdems has always believed. The reason Britain is in this state now is because big government has turned its back on the people and sees us as a series of problems needing to be managed. Government may blame external pressures for the downturn, but it’s the rot inside that allows those pressures to hurt. So the first solution is for government to get a grip and really understand what it’s there for; the one job it must not fail on: that is, to protect and benefit Britain and the British people. Everything else is just the intellectual pretentiousness of political dogma, which in a downturn is about as much use as a chocolate teapot and we can’t afford it.

Must do Things for Success
Jump over that hurdle and everything starts to become clear. There are seven key elements that, when addressed properly, will set firm foundations for future success during the lean years of the downturn: 1, preserving and building British jobs for British people; 2, encouraging the wealthy to come to Britain and spend in Britain; 3, supporting profitable companies and business sectors that can become dominant world players in the upturn; 4, empowering people to build resilience and encouraging them to participate in community decision making; 5, fixing the social problems of ‘Broken Britain’; 6, gaining control of our energy and food sources; 7, investing to present a strong, stable, confident and compassionate face to the outside world. Neither Brown nor Cameron is looking in the right place to even get a perception of these essentials because success demands that Britain and the British people must come first. All these things can be done with strong resolve, and once started will get easier. The vital strategy is to put forward simple but beneficial policies that everyone can understand and buy into.

Strengthening Business and Jobs
The first action is to support business and jobs by taking an action that should have been done a long time ago: that is eliminating corporation tax! This would reward profitable British companies, attract hundreds of new, highly profitable corporations into Britain and create tens of thousands of jobs. In return, UKpopdems would make employers take responsibility for funding employee health and implement proper pensions at 50% of final salary. This simple action is not only tax neutral but has multiple far reaching benefits. Eliminating corporation tax ends business tax complexity and the hundreds of millions spent on finding and closing tax loopholes. Declared profits and company values would rise because there is nothing to hide: highly paid and skilled staff would move their residence to Britain. Employers would not only be brought fully into the health system and help make the NHS more efficient, but also address the key social health issues and innovative preventative measures where government has failed. 50% defined benefit pensions are affordable, and making a return to final salary linked pensions is the perfect answer to the looming prospect of widespread pensioner poverty. Of course, the more profitable a company the more it gains by this measure, but all corporations should be driving for efficiency and increased shareholder value. Those that do it best will want to be in Britain, boosting this nations long term economic strength come the upturn.

Energy and Food
Making sure that Britain has the food and energy we need now and for the future is essential. For food guarantees this means making sure British farmers are rewarded fairly for growing affordable food of good quality in the most efficient manner; and opening up direct food channels from foreign sources, whatever the EU might say differently. Britons must eat and eat properly. This may mean investment in third world farming efficiency so that poor countries that feed us cheaply can also feed themselves cheaply, too. With energy, we can no longer accept very high profits being made by Britain’s utilities, especially when end prices to ordinary people are too costly, and the fact that most are foreign owned so that profits and dividends from British base assets go abroad. These privatised companies should be seen as public services and profits generated out of their British activities must be shared equally with their customers in order to reduce prices. In the medium term with threatening gas shortages and increasing prices, energy needs must be met by more coal fired stations where Britain still has a wealth of resource, with renewables and possibly nuclear (if the people agree in a referendum) taking up the demand as they come increasingly on stream. Once firm plans to guarantee low cost energy and food sources begin implementation and long-term stability is assured, we can move on to strengthening Britain’s social fabric.

Turning Government Waste into Social Solutions
To do this we must first ruthlessly find and eliminate as much government waste as we can and use the money released for the creation of true social wealth that will bring long term resilience and stability when the upswing comes. Over ten years, New Labour’s centralising state has created an obscene, bloated bureaucracy that can hardly carry its own weight. By some estimates its prodigious appetite for tax payers’ money produces £150billion of pure waste every year. For a fraction of that money we could eradicate violence by putting tens of thousands of extra police on community streets and building an adequate prison and rehabilitation infrastructure. We could support children and families with an education system that best suits individual learning needs; more special schools, more specialist teachers, more parental support, more early involvement and a curriculum that creates healthy, confident, well-educated adults. We could make sure those who need work get real jobs via UKpopdems ‘right to work’ initiative so giving self-worth to the many who feel left out of society. We could double the peacekeeping and reconstruction capability of our armed forces and thus react more quickly to the needs of innocent people suffering from natural disasters and evil in many guises. Addressing these and similar issues will give Britain the social stability and strength to be able to gain when the downturn ends.

Individual Empowerment
In a parallel activity, we’ll begin to increase individual family and community resilience by gradually taking power away from the political centre and the unelected elite, and giving more democratic power and responsibility to individuals and communities. The old socialist idea of a welfare state has turned into a nightmare where everyday decisions are increasingly made by local, regional and national authorities. The state has taken over the role of both mother and father, creating a nation of growing dependents. For the sake of Britain’s future survival this situation must be overturned. UKpopdems will implement an empowered, participative democracy focusing on individuals and small communities. This means that the combined democratic voice of ordinary people carries more weight than the power of government. It means individuals participating in local and national decision making on issues that concern them and at a time of their own choosing. The result of this reversal of the old order of democratic power implies strongly that politicians had better work hard to do the right things in the right way because, if they get it wrong, people can act together at their own discretion to override bad decision making. The social role of government is to implement solutions that maximise individual opportunity, and to make sure people get support readily when they really need it. Strong, confident, individual resilience is exactly what Britain needs to take advantage of the next upswing.

Investing to Win the Future
While that’s being done UKpopdems will begin to partner with key business sectors to capture dominant global positions in future markets through massive investments in development, quality, marketing and supply. Targets include high value-added areas such as finance, areas of defence like armour and aerospace, medicine, entertainment, engineering, sport technologies etc. Something like this requires not only single-mindedness but total commitment in identifying and nurturing talent. Britain has been a dominant world supplier before and we can do it again. Lastly we need to bring back the philanthropic spirit of old by ensuring that the very wealthy contribute more to Britain and the poorest in society and are happy doing it. People receiving more the ten times national average earnings will be asked to contribute directly towards alleviating child poverty. High earning employers and directors can limit their contribution by employing more people; especially the long-term unemployed, disadvantaged and disabled; or for making real investments in Britain, for example: British bonds and equities, approved charities, British goods (or that part which is British), and approved environmental measures. These measures encourage the wealthy to be seen as positive benefactors of Britain and society rather than in a negative light. This is so important because, in the next upswing, opportunities for national and individual wealth, growth and stability will be the engines of a resurgent, strong and proud Britain.

The International Vision - When in Government Series

A series of papers illustrating how UKpopdems will manage government for the benefit of Britain and the British people.

2. Implementing the Vision – we can govern for the pitfalls and problems of everyday life and deliver the promises we have made to Britain and the British people.

e). The International Vision – raising Britain’s international standing.

Summary

The United Kingdom is a very great nation which, through the talents of its peoples, has been at the forefront of progress throughout the world. Not everything that Britain has done in its history has been good, but what has been good has changed the whole world for the better. UKpopdems believes the United Kingdom still has so much to give that is of value. Our national strengths that include honour, order, democracy, compassion, freedom, ingenuity and energy are as globally valuable today as they always have been.

With UKpopdems’ international vision we are setting out to implement policies that reclaim Britain’s standing in the first rank of nations, with a unique offering to reach out in compassion and mediation for peace and a better world, both with our partners and alone.

This paper; ‘raising Britain’s international standing’, completes UKpopdems series of documents explaining how our policies can be implemented for the benefit of Britain, the British people and our neighbours across the globe. Six policy areas are covered as follows:

1. Environment – solutions to protect the Earth without damaging lifestyles
2. Immigration – accepting the fact of immigration, but reducing and controlling it
3. Defence and Foreign Policy – a safer, freer and more compassionate world
4. Britain – pride in Britain and our place in the world
5. Europe – an early referendum on EU membership and the result acted upon
6. Poverty and Aid – directly helping those suffering poverty, fear and natural disasters

1. Environment – solutions to protect the Earth without damaging lifestyles

It is said that, after world terrorism, global warming is the most serious threat to future civilisation and, by attachment, Britain’s future, too. Some claim the threat is greater than world terrorism. Most people are prepared to accept now that the earth is warming and yet uncertainties still exist about its real impact on everyday life, with estimates varying wildly. There are other immediate concerns that need to be addressed, such as guaranteeing energy sources and food in a world where developing nations increasingly and rightly demand their share of ‘civilised’ living. The effects of these problems will hit hardest those who are least able to cope with them and Britain must solve these anxieties at home as well as play a leading role to alleviate suffering, yet still protect the environment, on the world stage. The British people are environmentally aware and increasingly demanding ‘clean’ solutions that reduce CO2 emissions, but they have made it clear that their lifestyles and what they have strived to achieve for themselves and their families must be maintained and continue to improve. This is our task, to protect the Earth without damaging lifestyles.

Understanding and Reducing Environmental Impacts

There is much that can be done. One of the early things that we can do is make the true environmental and carbon cost of everyday living visible. That is, the actual carbon cost of manufacture, distribution and disposal. This way, people can make real choices because the facts they trust will be available to them. The work to make these costs visible has started in a small way and UKpopdems will support this effort and invest to complete it as rapidly and precisely as possible. We’ll also make Britain’s total man-made greenhouse emissions accurately and simply visible and make similar and comparable information available about other countries and what those countries are doing about it.

Once this work is properly underway, one option is to enable people to benefit from less damaging lifestyles by shifting taxes increasingly to high carbon cost items. This would create a framework where ordinary people benefit practically by choosing activities and purchases that protect the planet. This is one of the best ways to encourage behaviour. This could be done via carbon labelling and then charging per carbon unit. UKpopdems is committed to keeping overall taxes the same in real terms, so a move to carbon taxing could only be achieved through matching reductions in taxes elsewhere. Secondly, a change of this magnitude must have the support of the majority of the British people, so a referendum would be held before any such change could legitimately be implemented.

UKpopdems is a firm believer in utilising technological solutions to protect the environment. We’ll invest heavily in practical implementations for reduced energy usage, emissions and self-sufficiency. We’ll work with partners to rapidly develop and apply technologies for carbon neutral homes, hybrid transport, coal carbon capture, next generation nuclear and innovative renewable options. Energy self-sufficiency, or at least energy guarantee, must be a key defence initiative for any government, as must reducing the overall cost of energy to people and business. For these reasons, as well as increasing the viability of nuclear, clean coal and renewable options, we’ll address the protection of existing energy sources. UKpopdems is already promising to eliminate corporation tax, which means that no British company will pay taxes on profits; but we will take action to restrict profits on the British activities of utility companies. We’ll also examine the possibilities of ensuring that profits as well as dividends are kept or held in trust in the UK. The objective is to protect British resources, reduce costs to business and individuals and encourage the investment of profits and dividends to alternative and cleaner energy sources within Britain.

Another practical initiative government can take to reduce greenhouse gasses is to look into its own back yard. We’ll do this by setting an example and reduce overall air and private road travel targets for government and the public sector. We’ll extend these reducing targets to organisations that government can influence directly such as state subsidised companies, suppliers and other trading partners. As with all UKpopdems targets, these will be independently monitored so people can have faith in them.

Protecting against Global Warming

Whatever Britain does in reducing harmful emissions, it could well be that not enough is done world-wide to prevent global warming becoming a reality. We must do the practical research now to fully understand what the possible effects of Global Warming might be on Britain, both as a nation and locally. If global warming happens then the results will be both positive and negative and could affect almost everything in normal life, from food to flooding, disease to diversity. Britain must capitalise on the benefits and minimise the harm. By using this information and investing wisely, then whatever global warming brings to Britain in ten, twenty, thirty or more years from now, we will be prepared for it; and we will be in a good position to help our neighbours and others when and if they need it.

It is undoubtedly internationally where the greatest negative impact of global warming will be felt and we will play our part in attempting to minimise suffering. Ukpopdems will grow a global warming defence fund of one billion pounds a year to help those most affected who cannot help themselves, and we’ll work with our neighbours and partners to increase that by ten, twenty or thirty times so that when disaster strikes in the years ahead, the innocent and vulnerable can be helped properly.

Britain’s environment

We can be justly proud of the great environmental strides Britain has made in just the last 50 years. The rivers, towns, and the land itself are cleaner than ever. Ukpopdems promise to continue this progress and direct more investment to greening up Britain. Waste is a huge problem and Britons do want good solutions that reduce it. We’ll push for much more recycling but take a different path by finding ways to encourage rather than punish. This way, businesses, individuals and families will benefit from recycling and proper disposal of non recyclable waste. An example is packaging disposal, where retailers will increasingly take responsibility.

Other environmental measures are too numerous to identify here, but include initiatives such as reductions in live animal movements, reducing food miles, increasing fresh food usage in schools and hospitals, protecting green and wild spaces and enhancing the built environment.

2. Immigration – accepting the fact of immigration, but reducing and controlling it

Most people in Britain believe immigration is too high. Even many established immigrants themselves think this. It is certainly out of control because no-one in government has any precise idea of the true position. Historically, Britain is a nation entirely made up of immigrants, but whereas small scale immigration can be integrated into the British mix, today’s influx of millions over a short period is difficult to absorb and causes social and financial difficulties. Britain is a small, crowded land where every new person from overseas should show they add value to Britain’s interests. With a forecast population rise to 70million and the social infrastructure buckling, drastic action is needed. The people of Britain have made it quite clear that they expect government to reduce and control immigration and this is what UKpopdems will do.

Managing immigration

We’ll manage legal entrance into Britain in two ways; first, by increasing numbers of front-line immigration officers and second, by implementing UKpopdems ‘easy visa’ initiative, which is a simple registration process for foreign nationals. The entry process will involve producing appropriate supporting documentation and completing an ‘easy visa’ card similar to the American waiver system. Legal entry will be based on categories such as ‘WORK’, ‘STUDY’, ‘BUSINESS START-UP’ or ‘SHORT STAY VISIT’. Easy visa works by matching ‘easy visa’ categories to previously registered and approved employers, accommodation, colleges, funding sponsors and health providers. Checks at entry can then correlate ‘WORK’ with the appropriate registered employer, for example: ‘STUDY’ correlated to the matching registered and approved college: ‘BUSINESS START-UP’ with registered funds sponsorship and registered health insurers: and ‘SHORT STAY VISIT’ with registered accommodation etc.

Employing foreign nationals must not be seen as a cheap option and the registration and approval process of employers of foreign nationals, for example, includes an onus for provision of accommodation, pension, health and repatriation. For registered colleges it will be health, accommodation and repatriation. The process of registration and spot check inspections will not require hordes of additional bureaucrats but be the normal business of Community Officers as part of their local duties in the community. The previous community vision document showed how numbers of Community Officers will be increased by at least 250,000, so the registration/inspection role is well within their capability.

Legal and illegal immigrants already in Britain

At the same time, foreign nationals already in Britain will begin to be registered retrospectively in the same way as with ‘easy visa’. Organisations linked to employment, education, accommodation, funding and insurance etc., will register en-bloc initially, and these will be repeatedly checked, approved and re-approved locally by Community Officers and specialist inspectors to ensure the maintenance of high standards. UKpopdems ‘retro-register’ initiative will ensure that whatever the initial entry route, whether legal or illegal, every attempt will be made to legalise immigration under ‘easy visa’ rules. This is the fairest way and avoids the need for blanket amnesty and problems of complex legal processes. Those who cannot be successfully registered within a specified time limit will be termed illegal, detained and deported over the shortest reasonable time.

Finding and separating out illegal and legal immigrants is a huge task. There may be hundreds of thousands of ‘easy visa’ registerable immigrants in Britain, and millions of illegal immigrants – no-one knows. Illegal entrants may be both unemployed and unemployable, may be involved in crime of all kinds, drugs, slavery, prostitution, violence, trafficking etc. and will be hidden in the shadows of normal society. Finding, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants and caring for those who have been hurt by them must be treated as the very highest priority and will involve and affect everyone in Britain until the job is done. It means looking into every dark corner, stopping and identifying people at random, relying on information from local people, using undercover investigators and entering suspected premises. A difficult job that will be done while protecting the rights of millions of innocent Britons.

Asylum

Asylum should be sought in the first country of safety that is reached; but when those requiring asylum do reach these shores then we are honour bound, as a civilised nation, to consider their cases. Those searching for asylum have suffered, are under threat, and may have many physical and psychological problems. What Britain must do is to properly look after their possibly complex needs for health, welfare and education. The last thing that should happen is that these damaged and needy people should be left alone to their own devices in a potentially hostile and difficult first-world environment. UKpopdems feel this can be better achieved by providing places of safety and support, where specialised resources can give long term assistance immediately it is required. When conditions in the home country are normalised and danger no longer threatens, then refugees can return home safely. If return is impossible then Community Councils may decide, over time, to take responsibility for individuals or families by integrating them fully into local society, with appropriate support and ‘easy visa’ registration.

3. Defence and Foreign Policy – a safer, freer and more compassionate world

Our world is a dangerous and unstable place, and the dangers in the world are becoming more complex. The peril of massed armies setting out to destroy or take over our country have receded for now, but the threat of great harm by fanatical individuals and groups hiding in the crowds, has dramatically increased. Looking outward into the wider world, anyone with charity can only be dismayed at the heart-rending suffering of innocent men, women and children through the hand of evil in many guises and in many countries; suffering that the so-called enlightened world and its lofty idealism cannot, or is unwilling to, prevent. No nation today can claim its citizens are safe.

Remarkably, and inexplicably, as the world becomes more malevolent, so past governments have run down Britain’s defences. Almost in direct proportion, as the risk increases so Britain’s ability to protect itself and others against that risk diminishes. Surely, if a government has only one job to do, it is to protect its citizens and interests against the damaging actions of others. Not only has our country been weakened, but past misjudgement in defence policy has led to the dangers for Britain increasing.

Britain’s armed forces have never been so stretched, nor expected to carry out so wide a panoply of challenging duties. Yet they are badly armed, badly paid and badly treated. It’s no wonder that recruitment is falling and trained men and women leaving in increasing numbers. Britain should be able to act strongly in defence of these islands, our international interests and especially those suffering brutal treatment across the world; our armed forces should be able to operate in many roles and in several theatres without over-stretching resources. These goals are what UKpopdems aims to achieve in defence. More important than force, though it’s often necessary, is the need for Britain to reach out for peace in the Middle-East, Africa and wherever else we can make a difference, and strengthening diplomacy to listen, share and clarify effectively will be the basis of UKpopdems foreign policy.

Pay and conditions

Immediately, UKpopdems will begin to strengthen Britain’s defences in order to successfully undertake anti-terrorism, peace-keeping, re-construction and offensive operations world-wide. To do these jobs properly, without over-stretching armed forces personnel and equipment, we need to reverse the present declining trend and double front line resources, increase aircraft, ships, armour and weapons systems by 50%, and also keep our nuclear deterrent updated.

Men and women on active duty need to rest, recover and re-train. Equipment needs to be maintained, updated and replaced. With current commitments this just cannot happen, leading to lack of essential equipment, fatigue and low morale. UKpopdems will encourage recruitment by paying more, looking after our soldiers and their families better, and making sure front-line troops have the best training and equipment for the job. For too long, Britain has had a make do and mend policy, relying on superb training, discipline and commitment to cover failures in equipment and logistics. Front-line forces who willingly put themselves in danger deserve the very best Britain can give them.

Pay of the most junior ranks will increase by 30%; likewise for those who are most highly specialised and valued. Allowances, too, will double in combat zones. Support and accommodation for service families will improve radically. Knowing those at home are well looked after, whatever the circumstance, is a basic minimum requirement. The same goes for service men and women who are injured. They will receive the best care during recovery and after, as long as it s needed. No-one will be forced out of the services just because they have been injured. There is plenty of valuable work to be done. These are not cost-driven issues but a fair return for personal sacrifice.

Across the whole of the public sector, UKpopdems are planning to create up to a million new front-line jobs and pay for these by reducing, through natural staff turnover, an equal number of back-office bureaucrats, administrators and managers. For the armed forces an additional 200,000 front-line personnel will be needed to defend Britain and our interests abroad. Of these, 50,000 will be recruited specifically for the home defence of Britain itself, in immigration, special operations police and intelligence services.

Combating terrorism and other dangerous individuals and groups is a specialist job of identifying, targeting, neutralising and containing. Intelligence gathering is a key tool in the fight that requires highly specialised skills, equipment and a global reach. Many people are rightly nervous about over-strong intelligence departments and their possible negative impact on individual liberty. A joint Parliamentary and independent commission will regulate the service and censure operations if necessary. If the period of detention without charge needs to increase then we will ask the views of the people beforehand.

Equipment procurement

Equipment and weaponry has always been a key issue in defence, never more so than today. Britain’s forces need the best equipment, no doubt about it, but as a complement to the best trained and disciplined manpower. British troops are already accepted as the best trained and UKpopdems will ensure training programmes will not be watered down. But in equipment terms, Britain has suffered some woeful failures in poor performance, slow supply, massive cost and time overruns, badly developed requirements and sometimes just sheer incompetence of senior ranks and ministers. UKpopdems will turn all this round by going back to basics.

In order that they can do the job we expect of our armed forces and other defence personnel then they need the best arms and equipment available. Accept that, and it becomes obvious that equipment must be sourced from where the best already exists, whether at home or abroad. So in future, where there’s an ‘off-the-peg’ solution that fits the bill as it is, or with minimal modification, then as long as there are no restrictions on use and a part-manufacture and service partnership can be developed for the UK, we will make the procurement. Costs will not only be kept down but delivery speeded up. In addition, in order to speed up and improve requirements definition and selection, we will reduce the involvement of very senior ranks and increase the contribution of experienced front-line end-users.

Britain’s defence industry is strong and UKpopdems want it to stay that way and grow. The best route to achieving growth and profitability is for the industry to excel. There can be no complete separation of the industry from government but performance on both sides needs a step-changing boost. We’ll encourage the industry to look increasingly outwards to recommend the best off-the-peg solutions from global sources. Rather than strongly promoting their own in-house design and manufacture, industries will be expected to put forward the best product solutions even where they exist elsewhere. Rather than acquiesce to and even encourage constantly changing design requirements to increase profits, they’ll be expected to develop trusted partnerships to identify potential world-beating defence initiatives themselves that government can invest in. As summarised above, we’ll streamline procurement procedures to ensure actual front-line and experienced users are a key part of the selection process, firm up forward requirements and make sure that decision making is timely and commitments made are honoured. We must get procurement right so that equipment levels and quality rises whilst overall budgets remain manageable.

Resolving conflict for peace

Previous governments have let Britain’s role on the international stage decline, citing European supremacy or the UK’s reducing world influence. This is nonsense. Britain is one of the few countries that can and should play a full part globally. Our unique history gives us a potent and valuable view of world affairs and the ability to help solve many intractable issues. Britain’s interests need more protecting than ever, and suffering among many foreign peoples is on the increase. Ukpopdems will strengthen this country’s representation in every corner to protect joint interests, share learning, clarify Britain’s principles and intentions, and resolve issues where our expertise can be of value. If Britain can help preserve world peace through negotiation with anyone, anywhere, then we will do it.

There are at least two areas of conflict which demand early involvement, where solutions look difficult and current initiatives are failing; that is, Africa and the Middle-East. UKpopdems will push hard for Israeli/Palestinian resolution via the road-map already on the table. Our contribution may be to directly support moderate Palestinian initiatives and leadership, either in partnership or, if necessary, alone. In Africa there is so much need, such suffering, and the UN is not acting fast enough or strongly enough. Here, Britain will put forward a bold initiative to create a standing European/African rapid reaction force pre-approved by the UN to act in protection of the innocent under threat.

The implementation of this whole policy will result in a stronger Britain, better placed to protect ourselves and others overseas who need help. We will have a louder voice for peace that will carry across the globe and the commitment and ability to back our initiatives with action. Our influence for good will grow and the people of these islands, once again, will be proud to play a key role in creating a safer, freer and more compassionate world.

4. Britain – pride in Britain and our place in the world

For a small island nation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a long and fascinating history, full of famous events and characters many of which are known, admired and celebrated the world over. Yet this history is only sketchily taught in our schools so that children easily confuse events and most lose interest. This is done on some misguided principle that what Britain stood for then and what Britain stands for now should be down played in favour of the values of multiculturalism. This is wrong-headed and muddled thinking. We expect the millions who come to Britain’s shores to visit or stay to abide by our rules, to fit in with ideals of British community, to share national values and contribute. This is only possible if these values are widely known and regularly reinforced. UKpopdems believes people want to be proud of Britain and our place in the world and our job in government is to create the framework to make this happen.

Investing in Britain’s success

One way of promoting pride in Britain is to foster success. Success means not only that Britons feel good about themselves and their own country, but also that more opportunities exist for ordinary people to realise that rising to a challenge in Briton can lead to personal and team success. We’re not just talking about wealth and fame, but also the ability to use British successes to help and support the needs of others.

UKpopdems intend to put aside £10billion a year for investment in British success and we’ll work to have this matched or exceeded by investments from the private sector and personal foundations. Key investment targets are sport, engineering, science, medicine, arts and entertainment. The success we must look for is continental and global acknowledgement. Britons know what success is perfectly well because our nation is already a world leader in several fields. What UKpopdems is looking for is spectacular achievements in broader fields such as medical and scientific breakthroughs, sporting records, global arts awards, fabulous entertainment and astonishing engineering feats.

The new ‘vocation’ element in UKpopdems schools curriculum ensures children have opportunities to participate in many of these areas and that talents and skills can be identified and nurtured from an early age. Expect to see expansion of facilities, the involvement of renowned and already successful people for coaching, investment in specialist teaching and individual and group sponsorship. Individuals and teams demonstrating sustained success and achievement will be put forward for national honours and other recognition.

British nationality and citizenship

UKpopdems vision for Britain is a single nation with different but valuable cultural accents. That is, where individuals are readily identifiable as British in their beliefs and core culture but with individual overtones of their own. Britain’s cultural identity is changing and has always been on the move, but this happens very slowly and the vast majority of people want this slow progression to continue. We have to make sure then, that new citizens fit in well with things as they are and, in fact, we should have an expectation that new entrants want to become citizens because they like things in Britain as they are and not because they want to radically change them.

UKpopdems will make British nationality hard to achieve and, therefore, something to treasure and strive for. In order to prevent abuses and give a period of reflection to foreign nationals when nationality is eventually achieved then it will be a provisional entitlement for seven years conditional upon behaviour on either side. Likewise, when British nationals marry foreign nationals then British nationality will be an entitlement only after seven years of marriage. New permanent residency is seen as a possible precursor to citizenship and must be determined in future by Britain’s needs and by individual foreign nationals being able to fulfil those needs. We anticipate this will be based on a points system tried and tested already in several other countries.

Foreign nationals will need a lot of schooling and experiences as they move towards a tougher to achieve citizenship because the requirements will include language fluency; involvement in the community; working for integration; historical and geographic understanding; secular law and how this transcends religious law; the workings of Monarchy, government and the established church; demonstrating tolerant, compassionate and honourable behaviour; financial and personal management; freedom, rights and responsibilities. Many reading this may think such a tough regime more onerous than for existing Britons, but we think our nation should be strengthened by new entrants, not weakened. In any case, as can be seen in UKpopdems education policy, all children will increasingly be taught against the same British principles as part of the ‘civilisation’ element of the curriculum where Britain’s history, culture and beliefs will be extensively covered.

Visibility and Participation

In Britain’s social oriented, post national politics there is a certain embarrassment about flying our national flag, the Union Flag. However, what has developed in its place is the growing practice of flying flags of personal choice, whether these are the flags of England, Scotland or Wales, or of the EU, or local, regional flags, or even the flags of foreign nations. There’s nothing wrong with this except that these flags sometimes evoke statements of ‘independence’ from Britain and can, therefore, be divisive rather than inclusive. UKpopdems will actively encourage the flying of the Union Flag on public buildings and by everyone to emphasise single nationhood. Other flags can then be flown in conjunction with the Union Flag as demonstrations of cultural differences and empathies, but with overall British belonging.

With UKpopdems implementation of empowered, participative democracy ordinary people have power individually and in their communities and can use this power to make their voices heard on issues that concern them. There are many intractable social issues that should not be the prerogative of government to dictate and still other issues that have crept into society without anyone questioning their relevance and impact on real people. It is time the British people had their say on social norms and the results put into practice. UKpopdems will ask the people’s views on diverse subjects such as: political correctness; health and safety; equality and discrimination; the portrayal of sex and violence in the media; rights and responsibilities - and others as they arise naturally or as people decide.

5. Europe – an early referendum on EU membership and the result acted upon

The European Union plays a large and increasing role in British life; it determines many of Britain’s laws, business practices, international policies and social responsibilities. When Britons were asked to vote on joining other countries in a European Community it was on the basis of the then Common Market and expectation of business benefits. Now we are members of the European Union and the power of Brussels has grown to the extent that European law now stands above British law and we are on the very edge of major constitutional changes that could change Britain For ever. There are many in Britain and in Europe who sincerely believe that full union into a United States of Europe is on the cards. This has all happened without further reference to the British people and that’s wrong and totally undemocratic. It is just not clear today whether the British people want to leave the EU, stay in the EU but as a separate national entity, or move towards full union. UKpopdems will redress this situation in an early referendum.

The referendum

In all UKpopdem referendums, government’s role is to stay neutral rather than try and use its position to sway opinion, and to ensure this neutrality through independent monitoring. What is important is to make sure all facts and opinions are available to everyone who wants to see them, and to actively moderate between facts and opinions, separating them so voters are not overtly manipulated by erroneous information. The referendum question itself will be very simple and unequivocal and again, independently monitored – something like ‘should Britain stay in the European Union’? In this case, as in many UKpopdem referenda, there is a need for a supplementary question for those who affirm they want to stay in the EU. This is to determine whether voters want to stay in but maintain their national status, or stay in and move towards full union.

Referendum votes involving constitutional changes must have a majority of 66%, but as a vote to leave the EU would be a treaty change, then a simple majority would suffice. If this or a vote towards full union is the majority result, then these are signaling major changes in direction and government must do everything possible to maximize participation, short of forcing people to vote through legislation. In general elections, governments have been voted in on as little as 25% of the eligible vote, and it’s possible referendum decisions could also be made on low turnout. With UKpopdems implementation of empowered, participative democracy then the people could force government to hold another referendum if they feel the result is unclear, so valuable safeguards are built into the voting system.

Leaving the European Union

If the majority decision is for Britain to exit the EU then the key priority is to ensure Britain’s financial and trade position is, at the very least, protected for the long term. UKpopdems would want to ensure Britain and the British people were actually better off before the act of exiting. It may well be that final exit won’t take place until well into a second term because much legislation will need repealing, new trade agreements need to set up both within the EU and outside of it, especially where other important countries traded with Britain on the basis of our continuing EU membership.

It may well be that the EU offers to make major structural concessions to Britain in order to keep us in the Union and if these were significant then another referendum would have to be held to gauge any change in national opinion. It could be that business opportunities expand rapidly for Britain outside of the EU and that financial growth can be assured. As for social legislation, there is no reason why any EU statute made to protect individuals, or the environment, or consumers or anything else, need be repealed if it has value by itself.
In other words, a vote to leave the EU is simple to determine via the referendum but the actual fact of it may well be prolonged while the interests of all the people are protected.

Voting for full union

If the majority vote is for Britain to move towards full Union in Europe then our first move is to signal this intention clearly to Brussels and Britain’s union partners in the fast track group. We’ll need to apply to join the Euro as rapidly as possible and prepare for all the financial implications that go with it as the European central bank takes precedence.

We’ll throw Britain into the heart of Europe linking closely to France and Germany, and promote the EU position over national interest both at the UN and in international diplomacy. It’s impossible to say now how, if and when the nations of Europe may form into a single national identity, but this result means that people are ready for it.

Naturally, because constitutional changes will definitely be required during a process of full union, then further referenda will need to be held to confirm the British people fully agree. In these cases a 66% majority will be required.

Retaining Britain’s Nationality

This result means that Britain sees benefits in remaining within the EU but wants to retain its full nationhood. In other words the interpretation is that Britain’s interests come ahead of Europe’s. This is not the status quo because Britain’s relationship with the EU is constantly changing today. The first action UKpopdems would have to take is to prepare for another referendum, this time on the Lisbon treaty as this treaty alone reduces Britain’s national power within Europe.

Secondly, we’d ensure that no further EU legislation is enacted unless the British people themselves approve it in a public vote, after understanding the full impacts, possible costs and benefits to Britain and the British people. Thirdly, UKpopdems would begin the process of eliminating, or at least drastically reducing, some of the endemic problems and failures of EU management. These include reducing bureaucracy and costs and eliminating fraud and corruption. This will be a long and hard fight but these are the right things to fight for. The EU should be an efficient unit promoting competition and the interests of its people, but there is little evidence of this being a priority. We will begin to withhold contributions to EU running costs unless fraud and unacceptable accounting practices are immediately and seriously addressed.

6. Poverty and Aid – directly helping those suffering poverty, fear and natural disasters

Poverty is not just about money, it is about genuine fear that the basic necessities for life will not be available – food, water, safety, shelter, medicine, care. Without these necessities, no-one can lead a normal life and prosper. Britain, like all nations, should do its utmost to help relieve these deprivations and support the lives of real people and communities wherever there is suffering. It is the causes of poverty that are of most concern and the most difficult to address because they come from endemic corruption, greed and conflict. Britain has to address these problems too, if the innocent and suffering across the globe are ever to be free of their shackles.

Addressing natural disasters

If we can’t prevent natural disasters then at least we can react quickly to help and support those most affected and bring back normality as soon as possible. Britain already has a competent system of coordinated world-wide support for natural disasters which works through central and local NGO teams. UKpopdems aims to support this existing network and complement it

We support the setting up of a large, permanent, multi-agency, properly resourced and equipped rapid reaction force ready to go, so that aid and expertise can be delivered anywhere in the world where there are sudden natural disasters to alleviate. .Britain should be capable of doing this alone, if necessary, but we’ll work to make this force international with our partners and allies. We’re talking about the powerful pumps; rescue and reinstatement teams, clean water, shelter, emergency food and medical aid, and, just as important, long-term back-up and support that would be quickly in-place and on-site in the most inaccessible places to minimise personal suffering, and help communities get back to normal as soon as possible.

This force won’t be government led. UKpopdems wants to reduce bureaucracy, not increase it. What government should do is to make sure that specialist expertise, equipment and funding are available where and when it’s required under the direction of existing NGO coordination.

Direct aid

As explained above, we believe that the main causes of poverty and fear are corruption, greed and conflict. UKpopdems needs to combat these causes to create an environment for long-term stability as well as helping the innocent individuals and communities who are suffering.

UKpopdems first initiative is to increase direct aid; that is, aid directly to the people who really need it. This is already happening to a certain extend but we’ll make it the cornerstone of British aid. We want to see a dollar of aid money buying a dollar of short and long term support at the point it can be most useful. This approach will be of far greater value than paying a hundred dollars to corrupt government and watching it disappear in bribes, corruption, luxury goods for the elite and military arms.

Secondly, where we do pay aid to governments, we’ll begin to make it conditional on increasing percentages being passed directly to communities who need it most and where it can be used under the direction of recognized and approved local agencies. UKpopdems recognizes that we are not going to stop corruption, greed and violence for a long, long time. To do that we need to gain the support of the UN, other national blocs, and the individual countries providing most aid: that’s a very difficult job.

We can start by making it clear that British aid is compartmentalized into three separate and measurable parts: the first part for direct aid; the second for direct national and regional development, such as new energy sources; and the third for central government use. Our overall objective is to make sure that 80% of total aid goes to the people and projects where it can help most.

Africa

Africa is a continent of enormous potential and yet gigantic problems. Corruption, greed and tribal violence seem a normal way of life and the innocent are badly hurt. Life-threatening diseases are rife and yet many governments seem unwilling or even unconcerned about seriously treating them. Yet, there are African nations which are stable, democratic and provide good government.

Europe has the key historic responsibility for the Africa we see today and Europe must play a major role in addressing these problems. UKpopdems will work closely with the EU and individual European nations, and others, to specifically bring forward plans to address African initiatives. We’ve mentioned before the need for a pre-approved joint European/African rapid reaction peace-keeping force and this needs to have European backing. Too often, there have been unacceptable delays in protecting people from violence and loss. And too often, bureaucratic processes of the UN and corrupt self-interest in Africa and other nations have got in the way of offering direct help. The protection of real innocent men, women and children is far more important than central processes and diplomatic niceties. Everything that gets in the way of this objective must be short-circuited and this is what we’ll work for.

In terms of aid and development in Africa there is much to do and we’ll increase direct aid and direct national development by £7billion (world-wide) in today’s money to support long term life needs and projects providing opportunities for growth such as cheap assured energy, efficient agriculture and local employment.

UKpopdems feel these problems can be addressed and should be addresses as a matter of extreme priority. The reduction of poverty and fear in Africa, and elsewhere in the world where we can make a difference, is so important for world humanity, peace and growth that this will be a UKpopdems front-rank ministerial position.

Empowered, Participative Democracy - The Road Ahead Series

UKpopdems sharpens focus on Empowered, Participative Democracy.

UKpopdems – Popular Democrats, the party that puts Great Britain and the Great British people first, sharpens its focus on empowered, participative democracy (epd). Epd is the future for advanced democratic nations like Britain, where faith and trust in established politics, politicians and the bureaucratic elite is declining rapidly.

What is epd? UKpopdems define this simply as:

The combined democratic voice of the British people carrying more weight than the combined power of government.

Individuals participating in local and national decision making on issues that concern them and at a time of their own choosing.

That means more power and a bigger voice for ordinary Britons and less power for government. This is a promise UKpopdems has always made, but now epd gives us a legitimate, powerful and widely acceptable argument for our goals.

UKpopdems is the only party in Britain offering empowered, participative democracy fully formed and ready to go. All UKpopdem policies already come directly from what the people want for themselves, their families and their communities. Our far-seeing vision means that existing UKpopdem policies fits perfectly with epd. Test this for yourself by looking through the published policy summaries and ‘Implementing the Vision’ papers.

This unique epd proposal is explained on an automated PowerPoint presentation which can be accessed for downloading at:

ukpopdems%20-%20presentation%20%28automatic%29.ppt
(Warning – large file 10mb)

Through empowered, participative democracy, UKpopdems really can benefit Britain and all British people.

The Economic Vision - When in Government Series

A series of papers illustrating how UKpopdems will manage government for the benefit of Britain and the British people.

2. Implementing the Vision – we can govern for the pitfalls and problems of everyday life and deliver the promises we have made to Britain and the British people.

d). The Economic Vision - Increasing Opportunities for Financial Wealth

Summary

Ukpopdems economic vision makes good our promise to secure financial wealth for Britain and all British people. We will do this by implementing policies that bring work, opportunity and financial stability. Over the years Britain has been subject to the most appalling mismanagement of the economy by both Tory and Labour Chancellors and Prime Ministers, where out-of-control booms have been followed by out-of-control busts. In the last ten years, Labour’s frivolous and wasteful spending of your money has hit ordinary families hard in taxes with little to show for it except an engorged payroll of hundreds of thousands of additional controlling bureaucrats, consultants and quangos. In addition, Brown’s urging for consumers to spend, spend, spend in order to keep the economy growing, has resulted in the biggest personal debt crisis ever seen in Britain and all of these debts must eventually be paid off. As people are forced to tighten their belts because of ever higher taxes, loans and debts mount up and reducing them becomes harder. Britain is now heading towards a recession of Brown’s own making, not America’s, and it is the ordinary working individual and families that will suffer most, whilst the wealthy find new ways of making money.

Only UKpopdems has the answer for sustained long-term financial wealth and it comes from our listening to what ordinary people have long said should be done, rather than the self-seeking political dogma and pompous preaching of out-of-touch politicians and financial whiz-kids, whose only priority is to look after their own wealth and benefits. We’ll deliver through simple but astonishing initiatives in taxation and employment, as you’ll see below. In addition, UKpopdems is responding to the millions of ordinary people and businesses who want to see an end to the growing litigation culture that is not only costing billions in claims but stifling restrictions on activities of all kinds. Also included are solutions for transport where high and increasing taxes have been an easy cash cow for governments over many years. They fail to realize that personal mobility is a key element in creating wealth. UKpopdems has listened and, at last, begins the process of treating road vehicles not as destructive pariahs, but the essential tools of business, freedom and wealth creation. The people have made it clear they want environmental solutions to protect the Earth, and for transport some will be shown here and others in the next UKpopdem delivery paper ‘Delivering the International Vision’.

UKpopdems is proposing to address today’s economic problems in a radical overhaul of taxation that promotes wealth, opportunity and empowerment; but we are committing to everyone now that taxes overall will not go up in real terms, even though UKpopdems is planning massive investment in front-line resources and key services. In our second paper: ‘Implementing the Community Vision’ we went some way in explaining where funding is coming from. In this paper we complete the picture. The detail of UKpopdems economic policies and how they will be implemented to create long term opportunities for wealth are shown in this document under the following five section headings:
Taxation
Work
Litigation
Transport
Balancing the Budget

1. Taxation

There are four major faults in current taxation policy that no other party is properly addressing:
Taxes are rising rapidly and ordinary people have little or no control over them.
Taxes are becoming far too complicated making it hard to understand for individuals, companies and tax collectors alike; thus raising costs and the number of mistakes.
The tax system appears to favour the rich at the expense of the poor and middle earners.
Taxes seem to be stifling opportunity and wealth creation rather than promoting it.

Corporation Tax

Our first radical measure is to dramatically boost employment opportunities in Britain by eliminating corporation tax. It means businesses will pay absolutely no tax on profits. This master stroke will result in several key benefits. It means that for the first time in decades companies will be in total control of their own profits; the millions spent on consultants looking for loopholes to avoid tax will end; the cost of tax collection and fraud investigations will end; company profits will rise and bring an instant increase in company valuations and thus their ability to expand and recruit more staff; and best of all it will bring an immediate influx of highly profitable foreign companies that want to maintain their head-quarters and many operations in Britain. The employment opportunities this brings will be vast as will be overall wealth creation for Britain. Employment creating wealth is the best route to long term prosperity and that is what UKpopdems is establishing.

The loss of corporation tax revenue to the treasury will be made up by obliging employers to look after their employees better in terms of at least health and pensions, and even more for foreign employees. See the section on Work for details.

Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution (VHEDC)

The second key tax change we’ll make is to help very high earners make a fairer contribution to the lives of the poorest and most disadvantaged in society. Most people know that if you are rich enough you can get help in finding loopholes to avoid paying tax. This means that the very rich often end up paying far less tax, pound for pound, than low and middle earners. This is unfair and the wealthy should pay more. On the other hand we want to increase overall wealth in Britain and do not want to send wealth creators rushing for the exit. UKpopdems have solved this difficulty with an ingenious initiative called ‘Very High Earners Discretionary Contribution’ (VHEDC). This is a magic tax because VHEDC benefits Britain, the poor and disadvantaged even if people legally avoid paying it. In fact, VHEDC works better if no-one pays it at all: the less VHEDC paid the more Britain benefits. It works like this: VHEDC is designed to capture all income made in Britain and brought into Britain from whatever source. Where these total earnings are above an allotted threshold, then contributions are payable at the VHEDC rate of 55%. Any contribution goes straight to benefiting Britain’s poorest and most disadvantaged; not to the treasury, so VHEDC is not a tax and contributors can have pride in the knowledge that they are directly and personally helping those much less fortunate than themselves.

The threshold at which VHEDC is paid is a wonder of common-sense. We’re talking about very high earners here so the minimum threshold is 10 times British total average earnings, about £250,000! What’s more, for employers, the threshold increases depending on the number of British workers employed and their average total earnings. So the threshold’s 100 times average employee company earnings for 100 employees and up to 10,000 times for 100,000 Britons employed! Just 10 employees doubles the threshold from10 to 20 times earnings. Employees taken from the disabled or unemployed register count triple; so just employing three people could count as ten and double the threshold. You can see immediately how employers and employees benefit from VHEDC thresholds because those who employ more and pay more can raise their contribution threshold more.

There’s even more to VHEDC because liability can be reduced further through allowances. Any earner above the VHEDC threshold can mitigate their liability by directly investing in Britain. This includes buying British made goods and services (or that part which is British); investing in UK bonds and equities; donating to approved charities that support the poor and disadvantaged; investing in approved UK environmental measures etc. Once again, it can be seen how paying less VHEDC will increase benefits to Britain and the British people as a whole. Anyone reading between the lines can appreciate VHEDC is not setting out to catch company bosses who already provide employment for millions of Britons. VHEDC is designed to encourage the very wealthy who employ no-one, or spend their money abroad, to gain personally by giving back more to the country they call their home and the people they live amongst.

Your Say on Taxes

UKpopdems third key tax initiative is to give Britons themselves a democratic say on increasing or reducing taxes. When the fiscal position is known towards the end of our first term, the people can decide in a referendum whether the next government should increase or reduce taxation and, from a list, what to spend more on or less, and by how much (to a maximum percentage). If the result is to reduce taxes, and UKpopdems are elected for a second term then, depending on the tax reduction the people require, we will first eliminate Council Tax and not replace it, then Inheritance Tax and then Capital Gains Tax. A result to raise taxes will result in increases in VAT and direct Income Taxes. As with all peoples’ votes and referendums, the government will stay neutral, just making sure all the information and impacts are available. An independent commission will ensure the vote is fair and fact is separated from opinion. At last, this initiative finally gives ordinary people the empowerment they want to fully participate in the future of Britain at the highest level.

Tax Fraud and Red Tape

Protecting Britain’s treasury from high levels of illegal tax evasion is incredibly important. To do this we’ll need to double resources to detect serious fraud in evaded taxes and duties. It’s not the tens and hundreds we need to worry about but the millions of pounds that we need to recover. It’s probable that hundreds of millions, possibly billions of pounds are lost to big time tax and duty fraudsters. We’ll address tax collection in two ways: 1. because we know tax is complicated we’ll first make sure people get all the help they need to complete tax returns properly and access useful tips on reducing tax liabilities. We’ll do this by doubling Inland Revenue resources and put the majority of them directly into the communities where you live and work. There’ll be enough of them to come to you at your home when you need more detailed help, or they could answer simple questions over the phone. This way, you’ll know you’ve got your tax submissions pretty well right and any queries that could cause problems can be addressed with your local community inspector beforehand: 2. we’ll also double front-line tax investigators and customs duty officials working with the police to detect high-end tax and duty fraud. These high-end evasions are very serious crimes because the perpetrators are effectively taking money directly out of the pockets of ordinary, hard-working people. Because we are massively increasing resources there’s a much better chance these fraudsters will be found and prosecuted.

Excessive business regulation and red tape is stifling wealth creation and UKpopdems is committed to reducing it. Business federations claim that red tape adds £100 billion to company costs. This must be reduced and we’ll work with leaders from small, medium and large businesses to identify where cuts can be made that make business life easier. Our only conditions are that customers, employees and shareholders should have high levels of protection and we may add regulations that are currently missing, to make sure this happens.

2. Work

‘Right to Work’

Our estimate is that there are about 4 million Britons who want to work and need work but cannot find it. UKpopdems know that paid work is one route to long term prosperity, self-reliance and self-worth. Through incompetence and lack of effective policies, past governments have allowed a situation to arise where there are many unemployment hotspots in rural and city areas resulting in whole communities reeling from poverty, discontent, crime and benefit dependency. UKpopdems will end this waste of rejected human resource and talent through a simple initiative we are calling ‘Right to Work’.

‘Right to Work’ guarantees a real job to all Britons who need or want work and are on the unemployment register. With a massive increase in front-line public sector resources there is plenty to do. These will be fully supported jobs with appropriate skills training. It will work like this: beginning with age bands at 18 to 25 (and older bands as the scheme progresses) the national focus will change to one of full employment, and job centres will refocus to a role of training and individual support ensuring that those who are unemployed in the age bands move into appropriate work quickly. To aid this process in the public sector there will be no set limit placed on the numbers of front-line workers. We will also oblige all organizations who receive government funding or are linked to government supply contracts to participate in ‘Right to Work’ on the same basis. In the private sector, VHEDC will encourage employment from the unemployed register. In addition, the elimination of corporation tax will bring a massive influx of new employment opportunities. On top of this we’ll reduce business red tape and possibly employment taxes on condition that employers join ‘Right to Work’. Once independent observers signal that full employment effectively exists in an age band, it will be assumed that all those not registered have independent means of support and, except in certain circumstances, do not require government social assistance. The policy will be further supported by making sure that, in future, employers give a minimum redundancy period of three months basic salary after a probationary period. This will allow adequate time for those who have lost jobs to find work under the ‘Right to Work’ scheme.

‘Safe Pensions’ and ‘Sure Health’

These two initiatives are balancing measures from the elimination of corporation tax. They encourage all employers to look after their employees to a high standard in terms of pensions and health.

The Labour government has all but destroyed good company pension schemes where employees can be guaranteed a percentage of their salaries when they retire, and this is increasing poverty in retirement now which will be made much worse over coming years. The public sector still possesses final salary schemes and this is causing division because these state schemes are paid out of the same taxpayers’ pockets that have seen their own guaranteed pensions destroyed. The situation must be corrected and the clock turned back so that all pensions give a secure payout in retirement. This UKpopdem initiative is called ‘Safe Pensions’. Here, all employees have a right to a final salary pension equivalent to at least 50% and not less than the minimum wage applying at the time (more affordable than previous schemes offering 2/3rds of final salary). Contributions will be made up of both employer and employee payments with retirement age set at 65, but made flexible through raised or reduced employee deductions. ‘Safe Pensions’ also apply to the self-employed were audited contributions will have to be made on the same basis; part business, part personal contributions.

With ‘Sure Health’ we are shifting the responsibility for employee health onto employers. This initiative should achieve two things: firstly, it will give employers a great incentive to promote and support beneficial options in their employees’ lives such as healthier working conditions, ensuring proper meal breaks and vacations, stress counseling and preventative measures: secondly, commercial pressures should drive down health costs and speed up treatment as employers strive for inventive and imaginative solutions. Employers can organize ‘sure health’ in the best way that suits themselves and their employees, but the most likely route is via insurance schemes that will pay for NHS or private procedures. It can be seen that this employer responsibility for ‘sure health’ is one possible route to combat today’s social problems such as obesity, binge-drinking and drug abuse.

Both ‘safe pensions’ and ‘sure health’ apply to British employees and foreign nationals alike. Under these initiatives it is accepted that highly profitable companies will benefit more than those less profitable. If necessary, government will step in to support ‘safe pensions’ and ‘sure health’ where an employer genuinely cannot pay. But, in these cases, heavy restrictions will be placed on employers to keep cash within the company. It would mean that dividends to shareholders cease and directors’ salaries and bonuses reduced to match those of employees.

Other Initatives

Because of the above measures, the wish to eliminate fraud and to protect both British and foreign employees, all businesses will require registration. This is not a measure meant to increase red tape but simply to register income and activity from business rather than employment. Only where income is significant, or employment of others is involved, or the business is linked to foreign nationals need further monitoring be needed.

Our key business objectives are that companies maximize profits whilst ensuring customers’, employees’ and shareholders’ interests are properly protected. Unfortunately, this is not always the case and malpractice is occurring undetected. To combat this problem we’ll encourage and safe-guard whistle-blowers in both private industry and the public sector to help uncover fraud, corruption and dangerously incompetent performance. This will be handled by an independent commission to both offer protection and identify and teat critically serial whistle-blowers who cry wolf. As a balancing measure, the commission will have a role in identifying highly profitable businesses and public sector departments that perform in the most successful, competent, efficient way and that can be shown as exemplary. These organizations will receive awards, allowances and/or special treatment.
Dominant businesses, especially consumer businesses, can often edge out independent and start-up businesses. In towns and villages particularly, shops are disappearing or increasingly similar branded stores. Ukpopdems believe communities should have a helping hand in retaining facilities locally. We’ll do this by obliging dominant organization with a market share of 20% or more, to support small independents and start-ups. In practice this means that a village store can buy in goods directly from a chosen dominant company at that company’s own wholesale prices and have them delivered at that company’s own wholesale delivery rates. This would introduce true competition on a like for like basis and could apply to other facilities like Post Offices, too.

3. Litigation

In many peoples’ eyes there is no more damaging trend in Britain today than the burgeoning litigation culture. There are many dangers in this trend. Not only are litigation costs soaring, but the fear of litigation is forcing rising preventative insurance costs that affect everyone, and many activity choices are being shut down as this fears and costs rise. There are other side-effects, too. Litigation or ‘compo’ is becoming the first expectation instead of the last; lawyers are held in very low regard and appear to be promoting litigation and ‘ambulance chasing’; and in many cases the seriousness of the claim appears to bear little relationship to the actual loss.

The people want this culture ended and UKpopdems solution should be simple and effective. First, we’ll legislate so that a claim can only be brought where the loss has been due to the direct and active human action of another. This will mean that ‘passive’ claims involving inanimate objects (like a paving slab) or an animal not under direct human control (except home pets) can be insured against by individuals or groups rather than result in a claim against a third party. Second, we’ll regulate awards given by a court so they are limited to immediate tangible losses and future losses only where reasonably provable. This will mean that someone physically injured will receive a simply provable award, whilst someone whose feelings are hurt will find it much harder to identify provable loss. We’ll also make it easier for most claims to be heard in small claims courts, thus reducing legal and court costs. Third, we’ll protect leaders and organizers of normal school, club and charity events etc. from third party claims. However, very young children will still need protecting by the adults assigned to look after them.

4. Transport

In modern Britain and indeed the world, rapid transport and the mobility it gives are essential tools for business and pleasure, bringing both social and financial benefits and without which life as we know it would cease to be liberated. Of course there is a price to pay. All forms of motorized transport are potentially dangerous, have huge fossil fuel based energy requirements and produce massive volumes of CO2. But, even so, the benefits far outweigh the problems to the extent that hardly any individual would choose voluntarily to dispense with planes, ferries, trains, buses or cars.

For all its critical importance a proper transport policy has been woefully lacking in Britain. Public transport is very expensive and not always reliable or even available. To past governments, private vehicles have served merely as cows that are permanently available for endless milking, rather than essential tools for wealth creation and social benefit. Traffic congestion is worsening which harms both business and the environment; and while road users pay very high taxes, they appear to get little return investment to make their lives easier.

Elimination of Road Tax Disc

UKpopdems will address these issues in the way the people have long wanted them to be addressed. The solution will pay back over an extended period, but distinctive short term benefits can be achieved quickly. Most people want the right options to meet their needs for safe, fast, reliable and clean travel at fair cost and this is what UKpopdems will deliver. In the first place we’ll make a simple change that past governments should have done years ago; we will eliminate the tax disc on all road vehicles and add the average to petrol prices. This will do several things: first, it will make road taxes fairer by causing drivers to think about actual fuel usage rather than just the size of vehicle. Real-life fuel usage is a much better indicator of CO2 emissions than theoretical published figures. Thus, the less fuel used, the less tax is paid. A light foot and efficient driving will save money, while a heavy foot and inefficient driving will cost more: second, it will create an environment where all road users pay fairly. There will be no room for evasion as with the current disc and therefore worthwhile savings will be made on enforcement resources and central road tax processing costs: third, it will force foreign drivers to pay their fair share of road usage costs when in Britain, which they do not at the moment. To maintain fairness, we’ll guarantee through independent monitoring that government will not make more tax money out of British drivers using this system; any surplus will be returned in future lower fuel taxes.

Ring-fencing Motoring Taxes

Next, we’ll do something else that past governments should have done; that is to ring fence motoring taxes as an exercise in open government. This way everyone can see what is collected and where the money is going. Actually, increasing tax ring-fencing generally is a long term goal for UKpopdems and it’s something people will see more of. For motoring we’ll guarantee to spend 50% on roads, 15% on public transport, 15% on emergency services and 20% on environmental improvement. In terms of the environment, we’ll use these ring-fenced billions to help make road transport cleaner, quieter and safer. That means tax breaks for purchasing cleaner technology, such as ultra clean diesels, hybrid and hydrogen, and the development and use of the very cleanest fuels. The more people know about bio-fuels, the more it is realized that the damage to food sources out-weighs the benefits and so we’ll cap bio-fuel percentages in Britain.

‘Safe Roads’ Initiative

Congestion on our roads is incredibly damaging in terms of business, the environment, peoples’ health, towns and countryside. In fact, congestion is damaging in every way and we’ll make it a priority to get traffic moving and keep it that way over the long term. First, we’ll begin UKpopdems ‘safe roads’ initiative, which focuses on using ring-fenced road taxes to vastly improve existing motorway and major trunk roads, and building new motorways where there is evidence they are needed. Motorways and good trunk roads take traffic away from town and country roads, and this should be encouraged. We’ll gradually make all the most heavily used trunk roads four or six lane dual-carriageway with safe exit and entry slip roads, and redesignate them on completion as near motorway standard ‘T’ roads (for example T46 instead of A46) to encourage their use. Similarly for motorways, we’ll find novel ways to double capacity for those that are most congested whilst restricting intrusion in urban and protected areas. Secondly, we must find ways to relieve congestion in the short term. We’ll do this in three ways: 1. by restricting freight traffic to approved routes so that higher capacity roads are used as far as possible to the delivery site. This will help unblock over-used country roads: 2. by also restricting freight traffic to the inside lane of multi-lane highways unless the overtaking manoeuvre can be completed within 30 seconds. 3. by measuring highways agencies on keeping traffic moving rather than slowing it. This would include recommending immediate measures to speed traffic locally, identifying misleading temporary signs, unnecessary road work obstructions and keeping traffic moving around accidents and breakdowns.

Communities have real power in a UKpopdem democracy. We’ll encourage communities to get together on determining ways to keep traffic moving on the B roads and community roads they are responsible for whilst keeping driver and pedestrian safety at the top of the agenda. This could include experimenting by removing traffic lights; separating pedestrians and cycles from motorized traffic more; town and village by-passes; faster through routes etc.

Public Transport

The availability of clean, reliable, fast and fairly priced public transport options are essential for Britain’s future if roads are not to become totally clogged. There is only so much road space that can be created in a small island. For busses UKpopdems want to implement four initiatives. First, we’ll begin a programme to clean up urban transport by tightening emissions and particulate standards, leading as soon as technically possible, to near emission free public road transport: Second, we’ll encourage cities to grow bus networks and timetable frequency so that public transport becomes the preferred option: Third, we’ll use ring-fenced taxes to grow the rural bus network so that clean and comfortable busses run at least hourly from villages to the main local commercial centre and back: Fourth, as soon as the country can afford it, we’ll extend free bus travel, now available to over 60s, to young people up to 30 so they can develop a habit of travel by bus. It is UKpopdems intention that all bus travel should eventually be free.

For city congestion charging, it is up to communities working together to decide upon this option, but it must be shown through independent monitoring that public transport is first able to cope well with increased usage before charging is introduced. However, we’ll encourage communities to implement initiatives like park and ride and free town centre parking for shoppers to keep town centres busy and economically healthy.

There are signs, at last, that rail transport is making progress in the direction people want it. However, there is still much to do. We want to see operating contracts that stipulate growth in the number of services. We want every long haul passenger to have the availability of a seat and we want to see speeds increasing safely and prices reducing so that trains become the natural option for long distance UK travel. In terms of pricing, we’ll work to understand how to reduce costs in the system so that fares can reduce in sync. And we’ll also make cheap off-peak fare structures much more visible and attainable by ordinary passengers without the current complexity of offerings, perhaps in the model of low cost airline fares.

Air travel is an unbeatable option for those wanting to embark on rapid journeys of hundreds of miles across national borders. In years to come, true Inter-European integrated super fast rail travel may become a real option and we’ll join in making this a reality. In the meantime there are undoubted benefits and environmental liabilities such as large-scale emissions and noise and congestion nuisance etc. See the next paper on implementing the international vision for UKpopdems environmental solutions. UKpopdems medium term plan is to continue to expand direct routes from regional airports for business and social use. It is evident that when these facilities expand there are immediate benefits for local people and business growth. But communities working together in an airport’s catchment area should have a deciding voice so the benefits are demonstrable, impacts can become clear and minimized. We will ask the peoples’ opinion nationally and locally concerning Heathrow and future expansion.

Other Transport Initiatives

Speed limits are increasingly confusing. We’ll carry out an independent review of applied speed limits to make them simpler, more common sense, modern and understandable. The speed limit review will be fast and based on village, town and city boundaries and how well traffic is separated from pedestrians and each other. Some limits will probably increase and others decrease. In a public vote we’ll ask the people about fixed speed cameras, their expansion or removal and how fines should be used.

Road vehicles are lethal weapons in the wrong hands. Unsafe driving has to be identified and stopped and this is something everyone wants. Increased resources allow UKpopdems to spot check unsafe foreign vehicles at point of entry, especially freight traffic. Highway police will also be increased to spot, stop and prosecute dangerous and illegal driving (rather than inconsiderate driving). In an exercise of individual empowerment we’ll enlist the help of every driver, via their passengers, to record both dangerous and inconsiderate driving through the capture of photographic evidence. When good, these will be acted upon officially. Dangerous drivers need to be removed from the road, re-educated and re-tested before venturing out legally again, while inconsiderate drivers can be helped to understand how their actions impact other road users unfairly.


5. Balancing the Budget

This section sets out to clearly define UKpopdems management of Britain’s fiscal position for the benefit and wealth of the people and the country. In summary, our first term policies are not only achievable and affordable, but have been designed to leave HM Exchequer in surplus ready for possible tax cuts in the following term should the people decide so in a public vote. In government, we have pledged not to raise taxes in real terms. All UKpopdems policy pledges are guaranteed by strong and independent regulation. Any tax changes, outside those published in the manifesto, that are required during office will only be made by reference to the British people and with their agreement. There will be no spinning or double counting by our Chancellor on tax. All statements of fact will be made by senior civil servants rather than politicians.

Instead of raising taxes, UKpopdems intend to deliver policy commitments by redirecting expenditure away from government back-office functions and resources, and towards front-line delivery resources and supporting infrastructure. Over the long term, spending on back-office bureaucracy, administration and management will reduce, as near as possible, to just 20%-30% of what we spend on front-line delivery resources. The reduction in back-line staff will happen through natural public sector turnover. UKpopdems target reduction will be 7% a year until sustainable levels are reached. There will be no redundancies and we will not penalise dedicated public sector employees when the real culprit is bad management by past and present governments.

UKpopdems will also create funds for our policies by identifying and reducing waste. No government in history has wasted so much tax payers’ money as this present one; hundreds of costly quangos, failed IT systems, Whitehall bureaucracy, botched initiatives, red tape, foreign junkets, disastrous policy rethinks, Local Authority profligacy, expensive outsourcing of services, excruciatingly costly consultancy, not to mention press officers and spin doctors in every public sector department. Taken together, waste and back-office bureaucracy could add up to £180billion every year. UKpopdems never forget this is your money and should be spent on the projects and policies that the British people actually want, rather than what politicians think you want.

It will take a little time to fully identify what is waste and what is beneficial; which resources are back-office and which are front-line delivery. This job needs to be done carefully to avoid hurt and damage. However, we fully anticipate being able to redirect at least £20billion extra to front-line resources and infrastructure during our first year; and to raise this to £100billion extra in our fifth year of office. To release funds immediately and get started on programmes that bring the most benefit possible, we may need to temporarily freeze back-office administrative IT systems and internal consultancy projects, dissolve many quangos and stop other obviously wasteful programmes. These will be categorised in our first few days of office.

UKpopdems will not be driven off-course or bamboozled by Whitehall bureaucrats in our drive to benefit ordinary Britons. We’ll recruit up to a million extra front-line delivery specialists to combat crime; improve social services, education and health; reduce and manage immigration; strengthen security and the armed forces, boost international aid and other programmes. Nor will we step back from building more prisons, new specialist schools, new community hospitals; new and safer roads; acquiring the best defence equipment and expanding public transport.

As well as being able to implement all UKpopdems community, democratic and international policies within existing tax revenue, our economic policies are designed to produce a healthy fiscal balance capable of sustaining future tax cuts. Our plan to eliminate corporation tax will attract large numbers of highly profitable companies into Britain and thus greatly increase employment opportunities for all Britons who need work. Innovative programmes such as sure health, safe pensions, right to work and very high earners discretionary contribution will not only save revenue but also guarantee better living standards, employment, health and dignity for everyone. Tightening the litigation culture will make individuals, organisers, workers and businesses freer and reduce legal and insurance costs. And our plan to strengthen local community and Parish councils by redirecting front-line resources directly into communities, and putting existing Local Authorities under community control will not only improve democracy, but allow the efficient channelling of funding directly to the people who need it most and can make the best use of it.

For a full fiscal model and breakdown see 'Policy Funding' page of UKpopdems web-site
www.ukpopdems.org.uk