After the elections - Where We Stand Series

After The Elections - Where We Stand Series

Local, Welsh Assembly and Scottish Parliament Election Response – May 2007

Which way did you vote? Did you vote? There’s no doubt the most popular vote in last Thursday’s elections, as has been the case for many years, was the no vote. You can’t blame people for not voting, UKpopdems don’t. At local authority level particularly, there’s hardly a difference to speak of between the main parties. Some folks say the biggest factor in the pro-Tory vote was a protest against the mad and unhygienic, so-called green, policy adopted by many local authorities to collect rubbish every other week. Maybe, but UKpopdems believe this is just a side-show. Everybody knows Council Taxes will continue to go up and services will continue to deteriorate. You’ll still pay more for less next year whichever party got in in your area.

The biggest reason local people don’t vote is because they think it’s all a waste of time and that no-one is going to listen to the voice of real local people like you and me. UKpopdems agree. Councils aren’t interested in local peoples’ problems any more than our national government is interested in truly representing the British people. Labour, LibDem and Tory are only in it for themselves at national level and it’s the same at local level. Individually, some MPs and local councillors really do want to do their best to help, but they are soon stymied by the power play of political shenanigans and mired in the treacle of politically correct bureaucrats. In any case, most of the money the council spends is not even determined by councillors; it’s dictated by government. Look at the bureaucratic job titles on offer in your council and you can see hardly any of them are relevant to your lives or what you want. But you are still paying for them.

UKpopdems is the only national party that wants to end the overbearing, undemocratic, bureaucratic and politically correct nonsense of local councils, where ordinary people have no voice to determine what needs to be done to make life for themselves and their neighbours better. Our policy on local government is to get rid of a whole tier of bureaucracy by eliminating all county, district and metropolitan councils. Instead, Parish and Community councils will be strengthened so that you can be truly involved in making the decisions that affect your daily life. Your local community will have the funding and professional support necessary to encourage you and the people you know to get involved in and decide on local issues yourselves, and your community leaders will HAVE to listen to you. It’s not a dream, it will happen with a UKpopdems government. Furthermore, UKpopdems will, at the end of our first term, hold a popular vote that will allow you to decide on national taxation and whether to eliminate what many people feel is that most vile of all taxes, Council Tax. If you vote to reduce taxes and, therefore, end Council Tax, it will not be replaced. There will be no stealth taxes with the Popular Democrats.

Only at regional level (London, Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, and let’s all hope Northern Ireland Assembly) can be glimpsed just the tiniest ray of light that ordinary people may get some benefit from their vote; that their voices may be listened to. Recent regional policies such as free prescriptions, free elderly care and free university education cock a serious snook at the failing dogma of labour’s policies that only England now has to endure. And last Thursday’s elections not only kicked labour where it hurt most (far more than local council election disasters) but showed the people of Scotland and Wales for the first time that they could afford to flex their muscles in an outburst of democratic power favouring dedicated regional parties over the failing triumvirate of what some people call the Lab/Lib/Con alliance.

UKpopdems want England to benefit from regional democracy as well, but not those awful Stalinist regions dictated by Europe and quite rightly defeated by local people (though, unbelievably still in place as unelected quangos thus demonstrating the contempt Blair and Brown have for the voters of England). No, like the emblematic regions embodied in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, UKpopdems will implement English regions that distil the same pride and belonging personified in the ancient Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of Northumbria, Mercia, Anglia and Wessex; regions of true geography and emotion. London will continue to be a powerful separate region as befits the capital of the United Kingdom; if the people wish it, perhaps a region for Cornwall, too. In addition, and to make sure regional decision making really does reflect what local people want, UKpopdems will implement regional upper houses consisting of representatives from community councils. These new senior chambers will approve policies made at regional level before they are implemented. So you will have a direct voice, through your community, in regional assembly decision making.

These and all other UKpopdem policies are designed to put Britain and the British people first so that all law abiding Britons can feel better off, both financially and socially. With UKpopdems the democratic millions of ordinary people will be able to take back control of their own country from the damaging self-seeking dogma of today’s politicians. In government, UKpopdems will be the servants of the British people while the people, acting together, will be the masters. Instead of telling, we’ll be listening; instead of controlling, we’ll be serving; instead of lying and spinning, we’ll be delivering. Join UKpopdems now and together we can build a better Britain.

Sunday Express Comment – ‘Right to Work’

We can reduce the dependency culture by finding real work for everyone who needs it

David Cordingley – Leader
United Kingdom Popular Democrats (UKpopdems)

What do you think is the biggest single problem facing Britain’s future? Listen to mainstream politicians and they will tell you: global warming; the Iraq conflict and terrorism; world poverty; crime and the gun culture; obesity; bird flu? You could be forgiven for thinking the answer is all of these because a new Armageddon does seem to fall out of politicians mouths every few weeks. But the real one is the one that all politicians of whatever colour desperately want to avoid talking about.

The biggest problem facing Britain today and for the future is Social Dependency. ‘So what’? you may be thinking. Let me explain something. Almost half the tax our beloved Chancellor wrings out of you is spent on programmes that try to compensate for social imbalances. Things that have gone wrong that should not have, like social services, pensions, health, unemployment, housing, crime and others. That’s a total of about £250billion! If you pay average tax on average earnings that means almost a quarter of what you earn disappears in social taxes. Imagine what you could do with that extra £6,000 a year. What!? Yes, don’t forget the taxes you pay include more than just the basic rate. There’s VAT, drink, motoring, National Insurance, Council Tax plus a host of other stealth taxes adding up to almost 50% of what you earn.

Like most things this government has tried to do, spending all that money of yours on social re-engineering has not worked. Social health problems are escalating, so is crime, so are debt problems. Pensions, which were meant to give people some dignity in older age, are now devalued or even worthless and that in itself is a key future threat. What’s worse is that a whole generation of Britons - and immigrants too - are dependent on these social taxes, perhaps up to five million. Everyone’s heard of the ‘Dependency Culture’. But what is it? Well, it’s a sound bite that unfairly brands and boxes three groups of totally different people. ONE: People who want to work but can’t find work and depend on benefits to live, and TWO: People who don’t want to work and are content to live on benefits, and THREE: people who should be getting support to maximise their potential but the money’s run out to support them properly so low-grade benefits are the only answer.

Brown’s done his sums and even he knows that more big tax rises are out. There’s no more money to throw at the problem, and even if there were, we all know it would be wasted and social dependency would get worse. His and Labour’s only answer is to ignore it and rely on their mastery of spin to pretend it’s not happening. Tories and Lib/Dems have no better answer so we are all suffering, those who are paying the hefty social taxes and those who need better help and are not getting it. But there is an answer and it’s really not that difficult. It is to make sure everyone who needs work can get it; real empowering jobs that contribute to Britain and our society; jobs that turn social dependents into valuable contributors. This is ‘Right to Work’.

Employment is the sure route to independence and self-respect. Everyone knows unemployment leads to poverty, dependency and humiliation – and provides the foundation for crime, disaffection and ill health. ‘Right to Work’ provides real jobs for people who need them. There is plenty to do in the front-line of the public sector alone, let alone the private sector. ‘Right to Work’ is a programme that particularly includes jobs for people who have low basic skills and are disadvantaged, such ex-offenders, mobile disabled, the young unemployed, and those discriminated against. There’s a lot to do to get Britons back into work, so best start now.

This is how ‘Right to Work’ can be implemented by a determined government at no extra cost to British taxpayers. First we need to recognise these jobs already exist, they’re either just not being done or not being done by Britons, so we must make sure British citizens are first in the queue for jobs, ahead of foreign nationals. Don’t be fooled by human rights lawyers or EU fanatics. Briton can legitimately do this as a sovereign state. Second we need to make sure basic skills training is available for those who need it in communication, work responsibilities etc, so the long term unemployed can gain confidence. Third we need to make sure everyone clearly understands that if they need work, can work and should be working then work will be made available. Then we need to do a couple of important things. One, change the role of job centres so they are responsible for finding jobs for Britons and two, making sure private sector companies can get worthwhile tax incentives by taking on Britons who are currently dependent on benefits.

‘Right to Work’ is a long term programme but could be fully implemented over ten years or two terms, possibly segmented by targeted age bands. As the programme progresses then three fundamental social goals will be met that will benefit Britain and the British people. One; Britons will be in work and know that if they need work they will get it. Two; billions in social benefit costs will be saved for better purposes and, Three; those who need real support to make the quality of their lives better will have access to the money denied them by government for special schools, care, equipment and effective treatment.