There have been a number of threads recently attacking or defending various parties' policies so I thought it might be interesting to see how others would tackle the issues that face Britain today. You may think that, given my own recent posts, I would simply regurgitate UKIP's Manifesto, but you'd be very wrong! So if I were stupid enough to go into politics and became Prime Minister (unlikely, I know, but bear with me), these would be my proposals: Europe: Withdraw from the EU, repatriate all Britain's sovereign powers and law-making to Parliament but retain full membership of the EEA and EFTA (ie the "Common Market"). This would save an estimated £60bn a year plus £40m a day (almost three-quarters of a trillion annually). Commonwealth and ASEAN: Seek closer ties with our Commonwealth partners and introduce a tariff-free trade zone. Similarly establish links with ASEAN nations in the interests of trade and development. Taxation: Scrap VAT and block grants to the regions and introduce a local Sales Tax; scrap Inheritance Tax and carry out a full review of the tax system with a view to simplification. Introduce taxation by citizenship rather than by residence (same as USA) but allow non-residents to vote in all elections and referendums; keep fuel duties but zero-rate LPG road fuel; Shipping - Imports & Exports: Impose taxation on all exports not shipped by British-registered (and operated) ships/aircraft for at least 75% of their journey but at a reduced rate for those operated by Commonwealth nations. Similarly with respect to imports. This should have the effect of boosting Britain's shipping industries and employment therewith. Aviation: Require all airlines to make special provision for all passengers with disabilities, including the blind and deaf; introduce legislation to prevent low-cost airlines imposing hard (or virtually impossible) to comply with regulations such as the pre-printing of boarding passes (when such are not available more than 1 week ahead -- eg Ryan Air); encourage airlines to make better use of regional airports. Surface Transport: Scrap the 70mph speed limit on motorways whilst increasing the penalties for those who ignore the remaining speed restrictions; impose a 12 month driving ban on motorists who insist on using mobile phones whilst driving and a life ban for intoxicated drivers (alcohol or drugs); require councils to provide more cycle ways; create, or extend existing, freight rail links between Scotland, Felixstowe, Southampton, Irish Sea and English Channel ports and use tolls and increased road fuel duties (for HGVs) to make rail a cheaper alternative for long-distance freight. Education: Scrap GCSEs and re-introduce GCEs; require the learning of Latin plus at least one modern language (French, Italian, Spanish, German, Chinese) at Primary schools and both English Language and English Literature to at least GCE "O" level as well as a modern language, Mathematics, Sciences, History, Geography and Citizenship studies; encourage wider acceptance of the International Baccalaureate as an alternative to "AS" and "A" levels; encourage schools to provide more extra-curricula activities such as competitive sports, debating, driver education (for 16+) etc. School leavers not continuing to A level/IB programmes will be required to do National Service for 3 years or a minimum of one year with an international aid agency (eg VSO); A level/IB leavers would be encouraged to take a gap year before entering university and would receive a stipend if that year is spent as a VSO volunteer. Provide university full tuition grants for academically bright students from low-income families in addition to student loans to which all (British) students could obtain. Immigration: Everyone in the UK would be required to carry an ID card which would serve as proof of nationality and entitlement to services and benefits; relax the current regulations and permit UK nationals to settle their foreign-born spouses in the UK but visas for relatives would be means tested and would not provide the right to work; only UK citizens would be entitled to any state aid, benefits and tax credits with the sole exception of child benefit provided the child has British nationality; current EU nationals working in the UK would lose their rights to benefits immediately and would only be granted leave to remain in the UK for the duration of their employment contract. Health: Free treatment under the NHS will be emergency-only for those without the right to remain in the UK and co-pay for non UK-citizens. Co-pay would also be required for elective procedures on a means-tested basis. Matrons, State-Enrolled Nurses and other vocationally-trained health staff would be re-introduced and hospitals run by doctors; free dental and eye check-ups. Prescription charges for generic pharmaceuticals, sourced from a UK or Commonwealth manufacturer, would be waived. Media: Require News International's monopoly position to be broken-up. BBC Charter and the licence fee to be preserved but permit the BBC to create additional channels with paid-for advertising provided BBC1 and BBC2 remain as their primary output; World Service TV and Radio to be encouraged to expand both their programming and global coverage Employment and Industry: Require unions to become stake-holders and establish partnerships with management; outlaw wild-cat strikes and require unions to ballot members before taking industrial action with one month's notice being provided to management of any impending industrial action; require all manufacturers to provide apprenticeships in conjunction with trade colleges; minimum wage to be indexed to RPI; all employers must provide contracts of employment within 30 days and all employees to be entitled to pensions, holiday and sick pay whether full or part time; job-sharing schemes to be widened. Defence: Re-establish Coastal Command which, in conjunction with the Royal Navy, is to patrol and police our fishing grounds - foreign fishing vessels found within our 200 mile economic exclusion zone shall be arrested and forfeited to the Crown. Irish regiments only will be deployed to Northern Ireland. Re-establish the Highland Regiments; repatriate our Search and Rescue services from the US private contractor. Our NATO and Commonwealth mutual defence commitments to be preserved and if necessary enlarged. All weapons and munitions to be produced in the UK where possible. Fossil Fuels: Better use of the nation's reserves - eg coal, oil and gas - including surveying all mines which if viable should be re-opened to reduce our dependency on imported fuels. Give Scotland a better deal for those fuels it exports to other parts of the UK. Encourage off-shore wind farms but discourage those on land. Agriculture: The UK is to remain GM-free and farmers encouraged to grow crops required to feed the nation; encourage reforestration projects particularly of native hard woods and plantations of softwoods for the construction and paper industries. No GM foodstuffs to be imported. Law and Order: Reversal of the pro-criminal culture in the justice system as a whole; means-tested legal aid provision for criminal cases only; automatic seizure of "proceeds of crime" and restorative justice to be implemented - eg if your car is stolen and then found crashed/burnt-out, the thief would be required to replace it, like for like. Removal of the automatic assumption that spouses are entitled to 50% of the family wealth upon divorce and replaced by a fairer assessment. The House of Lords to be a revising chamber - it can no longer introduce legislation. Automatic deportation of foreigners who use the UK as a platform to incite hatred or violence. All foreigners convicted of criminal offences carrying prison terms should serve their sentences in their home countries (this will require bilateral agreements), be deported after imprisonment and barred from re-entry to the UK. National Security: There are certain market sectors that should always be under British ownership, including: water, power generation, telecommunications, electricity and gas supply to industry and consumers and banking. Foreign-ownership of would not be allowed and those companies currently owned offshore would be nationalised and then sold to British investors via a share offering. Those are my proposals and I'm sure I've overlooked one or two key areas.
I doubt I would leave the EU, but I am growing close to the view that a referendum should be held but I would have three options available to vote from. Yes - withdraw, No - Stay in, Don't know/Don't care. And all those who did not vote would be automatically lumped into the don't know or don't care category. This would have a one way streak of massively cheap imports from India but at a loss of British jobs, I doubt I could do something like this. I disagree. VAT should be national but I do agree in a new and simpler tax system. Inheritance tax would get overhauled but not scrapped. I would end massive estates being left from generation to generation using tax avoidance schemes such as opening up mansions for public viewing and stuff. Though the idea of taxation by citizenship is interesting, for such a scheme I would expect something for my citizenship to make this work... I mean, what is the government doing for the Taylors? Hmmm, interesting. It would be greeted by jeers from our overseas cousins but it might work. The first part I agree with completely, it is appalling how some airlines treat the disabled these days. It's like they never left the 70s. Not sure how you can encourage local airport use other than helping those airports lower their rates to encourage take up. Might as well make the airports public in that case as it would take a huge publicly funded incentive to work that way. Not sure about the 70mph limit being scrapped, perhaps on certain roads though, where they are admitted only at a toll gate. Hmm, I disagree on Latin, except for people studying languages and it helps them understand western languages and how they evolved. I too would encourage languages to be taught to everyone from school entry onwards. National Service? I agree, except I would make everyone do it! Yup, not just a working class stint. If the Political class knew their sons would be potentially fighting a war soon, they wouldn't be so quick to send us into them to begin with. ID cards will be forged, this would be an expensive waste of public money! I would actually have a tax included into flights into the UK, and certain workers categories that would pay for their NHS use. The NHS is not a benefit, it is a service that keeps this country up and running. It protects us in our hour of need, it should be available to all who make this country great, or who once was part of making this country great. In other words, you and me! I agree. Media monopolies should be broken up, it encourages political parties to pander to the whims of billionaires. Hmm, as a union member this is almost currently happening, although in secret! I know of a union who likes to boast how they work in partnership with companies to help both the business and the worker. And what do they do when said business ships jobs overseas, piss all!!! I completely disagree with this on the principal that the union is supposed to be a representative for the worker to encourage fair treatment at work, those principals should be encouraged and strengthened. Did you know every bit of legislation protecting workers came from the unions demanding action? There were recent calls from some in the Conservative party to bring out a "Right to fire" law which would allow any company to give 28 days notice just to fire anyone, for any reason and not have to explain it to them. Though it was admitted this could mean workers get fired for nothing other than a manager not liking them, it was endorsed pretty high. It is because of idiotic laws like this we need unions... Though, personally I would have welcomed this law for no other reason as it would have brought about a massive shift to the left in response to it! I agree! I would encourage wind farms wherever! I agree on the coal mines though.. I agree, I would even try and reforest the moors! However, I would remain open to GM because I don't see science as the enemy. Just greedy companies holding the patents for those GM seeds. But guess what, I would end their patents in the UK!! Seriously, legal aid should be for those in need as it always has been. Because when it ends, our courts will resemble those in the Philippines - Oh, I didn't know I had to produce this or that document - case deferred!! Should be publicly owned! Never nationalised... Because in a few years when the lights start turning off, it will be the public purse called to invest into the power we pay for. Not the current providers who are woefully under investing into the current infrastructure whilst squeezing more and more for profits. The Thatcher privatisation scheme was a lazy politicians excuse.. I say lazy, because if the utilities were publicly owned and prices had to rise, it would mean the end of a politicians career and they don't like that. Mismanagement, blame it on the private sector!
I would appoint Frank Field MP as Minister for Welfare and give him a free hand, with a guaranteed five years in post. I would cut the number of university undergraduate places by two thirds and make the remaining one third free as regards both tuition and living costs. I would create grammar schools and bus pupils to them. I would leave the EU but abolish all Customs duties.
Ah but what would you do if the "don't know/don't care" voters out-number those who voted definitively? It wouldn't work! Most of what you are wearing today has been imported from either Asia or possibly north Africa. I would legally require retailers to only source ethically-manufactured goods however. You may disagree on Inheritance Tax but not all estates are cash-rich. My extended family in Scotland was particularly badly affected in the 1970s, when Death Duties went as high as 98%, due to two deaths within three years. The estates had no option but to be placed in public ownership, with the main house now being operated as a (very expensive) conference venue operated by Ayr County Council. The estates employed over 250 people all of whom lost their jobs and their heavily-subsidised housing (in many cases these were free). Air and sea ports probably should be in public ownership. Since I would require most freight to travel by rail (or by coastal shipping), roads should be safer and more "free-running" which would allow an increase in speed on major trunk routes. Also manufacturers are starting to fit cars with collision recognition and avoidance systems (eg: the new Ford Focus). Where I said "Latin" what I really meant was "Classics" which encompass both an understanding of Latin (and possibly also Greek) but more about those ancient civilisations and what they've handed-down to us. I take your point about National Service for all. They wouldn't be issued free but would be revenue-neutral. I think/hope that the Identity and Passport Service could devise a card that would be extremely hard to forge. Foreign billionaires at that! Hmmm ... I would only permit limited GM where it can significantly improve yields but not harm the natural environment in any way. I would, however, ban the use of infertile seed stocks. Legal aid should really only be available for those accused of criminal offences and then be means-tested. However I would completely stop legal aid for most, if not all, civil cases except possibly for compensation cases but then "restorative justice" provisions may apply. Ideally, yes I agree, but I don't think the electorate would accept that now. Remember the winters of discontent under Wilson and Callaghan?
Latin is more useful than people might imagine. It appears everywhere in our language and also in the sciences.
I am afraid that the British merchant shipping industry, in which I have spent my working life, is dead beyond practical hope of revival. This is a pity because it once provided a route into independent citizenship for what in Victorian days were street children and are now Looked After Children (i.e, children in care who are now thrown out at 16). The Marine Society, now subsumed into the Sea Cadets, was formed for that very purpose. The Victorians were kinder than us - today we just dump them in squalid flatlets at 16 and leave them to cope with Life as an Adult... I would build council houses in very large numbers. If Macmillan could build 300,000 good quality council houses in a year, why can't we?
That's a far better suggestion than Michael Gove's latest wheeze - performance-related pay for school teachers. That's a suggestion that's not playing too well to the profession. Here's what the Headmaster of one of Britain's top private schools has to say on the subject: (You can read more of his rather amusing thoughts here).
I am pretty grateful that we lived in Trafford where they retain the Grammar system. My daughter got a place at Sale Grammar and my son at Stretford Grammar. I am not a fan of mixed ability teaching.
Or in some cases (especially around here) local residents and do-gooders who shout 'not on our doorstep'.
If I were Prime Minister I would hop on a plane to Lerwick and have a chat with the Shetland Islands Council about paying the dowry they were hocked for and re-joining Norway. I would then give the whole of the rest of Britain a referendum on independence for Scotland, expecting an overwhelming "Yes!" from the English. Ten years later, with the Pound Scots at 10p, we could buy Scotland back, cheap, and bail them out on condition that there was no more nonsense for three hundred years. I would hop on another plane to Beijing and offer China the Isle of Wight in exchange for Hong Kong.
I don't think they'd go for the Isle of Wight but they might for the Isle of Man as that has tax concessions!
Naah. Too wet here. But by contrast they are snapping up a few british oil interests here in the UK .... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/...na-dives-into-UKs-North-Sea-oil-industry.html "It now wants to buy up as many energy-related assets as possible to glean intelligence from partners as well as to control the assets. China's reported interest in buying a stake in the proposed Hinkley Point C nuclear power plants and its investments in technologically sophisticated hydrocarbon producers like Nexen and Talisman are thought to be motivated by the gleaning factor." http://www.independent.co.uk/news/b...nterest-in-north-sea-oil-and-gas-8531845.html
