UKpopdems – The Road Ahead

As we approach our first anniversary in July the party is standing on very firm foundations and is capable of a leap forward that could bring positive electoral results. Let me share with you the progress made to date and plans for our next stage of growth. Your views and backing is vitally important to the success of UKpopdems so please make your opinions known as we move forward, as you have done in the past.

1) Overriding UKpopdems Principles

We’ve defined the three key and overriding principles that guide every aspect of our party today and in the future. These principles are fundamentally different from those of other parties and set us apart in UKpopdems passion for Britain, the British people and true democracy for ordinary Britons. These principles are contained in three clear and unambiguous statements:

‘UKpopdems - putting Great Britain and the Great British people first’

‘UKpopdems - making Britain and the British people better off, both financially and socially’

‘UKpopdems - giving ordinary Britons real power and a real voice’

This means UKpopdems as a party stands for three broad ideals:
1) Giving more power to ordinary Britons and less power to government
2) Giving Britons access to long term financial and social wealth
3) Giving Britons a good feeling about themselves and their country

2) UKpopdems Vision

The party’s vision has been defined from the above principles. Over the past few months UKpopdems vision has been further refined to create a model that clearly shows what it really means to put our democratic principles into practice. Models are in development for UKpopdems community, economic and international vision. Your input to these models will make sure our vision becomes as crystal clear as possible to everyone that comes into contact with the party.

Above all, when UKpopdems form a government, then that government will need to operate for the benefit of millions of ordinary Britons, rather than for the benefit of a few hundred politicians, their cronies, backers and senior civil service elite, as is the case now. Several published reports, including the Rowntree ‘Power Report’, confirm that the British people have become disengaged from politics and democracy and that disengagement is getting worse. It’s why we have completed the democratic model first, to show that we will address that issue absolutely and completely. Everyone should recognise they will have real power and a real voice with UKpopdems in government.

Overall, our vision as a government is to meet the needs and aspirations of individuals and communities. We know that the commonsense needs of ordinary Britons counts far more than the self-centred interests of mainstream party politics.
While today’s governments and parties are concerned with ‘TELLING’ the people what to do and even what to think, UKpopdems is concerned with ‘LISTENING’ to the real needs of ordinary Britons.
While they want ‘POWER’ over the people, UKpopdems will succeed by ‘SERVING’ the needs of the people.
While they ‘SPIN’ instead of delivering, we’ll ‘DELIVER’ and ban spin.

Link to UKpopdems democratic model:

democracy%20diagram.ppt

3) UKpopdems Goals

UKpopdems goals are matched seamlessly to our published principles and vision. They show we mean what we say and we’ll deliver what we promise. The goals UKpopdems are pledged to deliver come straight from the people themselves. No party can truly claim to represent the people unless they fully understand what the people themselves want.

Publishing these goals that come straight from the people is another unique UKpopdems feature. No other mainstream party can do this: Firstly, they don’t know what the people want and they are not asking: secondly, other parties are concerned with their own egos and their own dogma. Look at New Labour and New Tories. If they did ask the people what they think then these parties would get a slap in the face; so best not to ask and just carry on regardless.

Test the goals on yourself, your friends and colleagues. These are not ideals; they are real goals that can be delivered by practical UKpopdem policies

Hospitals and health: We want fast treatment and the best care before, during and after.
Schools: We want to turn out well-educated, healthy and confident young adults.
Social Services: When we really need help we want it given simply and thoughtfully.
Crime: We want to feel safe in the streets and going about our everyday lives.
Environment: We want solutions to protect the earth without damaging our lifestyles.
Immigration: We accept Britain needs immigration, but we want it reduced and controlled.
Defence and foreign policy: We want a safer, freer and more compassionate world.
Transport: We want the right options to meet our needs for safe, fast, reliable and clean travel at fair cost.
Taxation: We want fairer taxes and a say in how tax is raised and spent.
Pensions: We want a secure retirement that keeps our dignity.
Work: We want rights and protection in work and employment opportunities for those seeking work.
Democracy: We want our say on issues that affect us and we expect government to listen.
Politics: We want politicians once again to be deserving of our respect.
Britain: We want to be proud of Britain and our place in the world.
Litigation: We want redress for real loss, but not a litigation culture where someone else is always to blame.
Europe: We want our say on EU membership and the result acted upon.
Poverty and aid: We are a compassionate nation and want to directly help those suffering poverty, fear and natural disasters.
Bureaucracy: We want more front-line public sector workers and fewer bureaucrats
Local Government and Regions: We want local and more accountable decision making at less cost.
The Monarchy and honours: We want to see what value the Monarchy brings and the honours system reformed.

4) UKpopdems Policies and Funding

The foundation of our policies has been set. We can show what’s wrong with things as they are today, what UKpopdems needs to about them to meet peoples’ goals, and what the results will be once these policies are implemented. They are all shown on the web-site so they won’t be repeated here. The full detail has still to be developed and this process is ongoing, but will be in place well before an expected election in 2009.

What the party is defining now is the funding required to implement UKpopdems policies. In our tax policy, the party has promised not to raise taxes overall. Most people already believe taxes are far too high now and we will be giving Britons the opportunity to vote for reduced taxes towards the end of the first term. So our programmes and initiatives will be delivered within existing national income.

Our plan is to implement our full first-term programme by REDIRECTING revenue to where it is most needed, that is in front-line resources and infrastructure, and away from back-office waste and bureaucracy. No government in history has wasted so much tax payers’ money as this present one; in 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. Our estimate is that money wasted on back-office bureaucracy and things the people don’t want and can’t use adds up to near £200billion annually.

UKpopdems intends to recruit a million additional and much needed front-line specialists; teachers, medical and support staff, police, immigration and customs officers, prison warders and rehabilitation staff, military personnel, social and care workers and many others. And develop the infrastructure to support these front-line specialists and promote British prosperity and safety: prisons, specialist schools, local hospitals, research facilities, the best military equipment, new and safer roads, more and better public transport, additional community facilities and much more.

To achieve this we’ll wring £20billion out of back office waste in the first year, rising to £100billion in the fifth year, and redirect it to our front-line programmes. There will be no redundancies; instead we’ll use natural public sector turnover to reduce bureaucracy and also offer real and valuable front-line specialist jobs to any back office staff who want to transfer. To mark its importance, the full detail of our programme funding will soon appear as a separate page on the party web-site.

5) Next Steps

Over the next two years UKpopdems and the membership need to prepare for national elections. In order to field candidates in those elections the party requires more members, more funding and a completed manifesto.

To help meet those goals, two programmes are proceeding in parallel:

First, the party will invite applications for additional PARTY OFFICERS; party officers are members who will become senior representatives of the party, moving the party forward as members of a joint cabinet. They may specialise in one or more activities including refining policy, recruiting members locally to set up branches, identifying funding and could become potential election candidates.

Secondly, costs will continue to be kept low by maintaining our focus on electronic communication. The web-site will be updated with new and modified pages as well as a new page on programme funding. Also expect an exiting new Home Page incorporating an animation of the party’s core messages, a comment pane promoting two-way exchange of news items and comment, and an on-line viewable and downloadable promotional brochure.

The future for UKpopdems looks bright. Your engagement will make that future even brighter. Join now.