‘Enough’ is enough
Radical Reform for UK Revival
Philosophic – Democratic – The Welfare State
Philosophic
What colour should our front door be? Are we proud and passionate about the society we have built? On what rock do we sit? Sadly the Nation has not seen much leadership or example from its elected representatives for years, and in consequence has lost any visionary sense of direction. By the same token so many good people are also without a sense of purpose – empty consumerism filling the void where the soul should be. Whatever Government is in power it must make its priority to spur us to spot and to follow that guiding star both as a Nation, as well as within ourselves. Whether we are of faith or no faith it doesn’t matter; healthy minded humans need to have a goal and use the short time given to us on earth trying to reach it.
The reality in so many cases is that - people are caught up in a greedy clamour for “More, More, More!” This is both unsustainable and unacceptable as it implies not only the unhealthy reliance on ill-funded credit, but also the exploitation and plunder of the resources of the developing world. Would it not make sense if Governments and Church Leaders, and even atheist philosophers, begin the radical reforms so necessary in our society by tackling soul-less materialism and try to win us round to think “Enough, is enough”? I have no problem with great wealth; it can bring great benefits – but I do have a problem with great poverty -and the chasm between the developed and the developing worlds, between the greedy and the grateful in our own society, will continue to gape ever wider if vote-anxious politicians dishonestly continue to pander to the mass demand for “More, More, More!” when their exhortation to the Nation should be “‘enough’ is enough!”
Democratic
Is British Parliamentary Democracy TRULY democratic?
-until men and women come forward as candidates who put public service before career, honour before cash…
-until the environment of Parliament encourages MPs to be guided in their speaking and voting by conscience rather than Party preferment or raw determination to hang on to their second- home- duck- house life-style (turning them into virtual voting cabbages)…
- until Parliament itself has the guts reassert it’s sovereignty and throw out diktats and orders from beyond our borders which are alien to the good governance of Great Britain…
- and until all sides are heard in Parliament – not just the tired voices of Labour, Lib-Dem and Conservative…
Then the answer is…..
………that British Parliamentary Democracy is far from being democratic. Until MPs represent People before Party, displaying the widest possible spectrum of views in Parliament, and until that Parliament is seen not to have thrown away its power to govern to an unelected, irremovable and undemocratic power beyond our shores, and has therefore in reality become a sham, able to make unilateral decisions only on foxhunting and MPs pensions, until that day arrives popular support for Parliament, respect for MPs, and our motivation to participate in the affairs of our own Country will evaporate: after all, what’s the point?
Common sense could save the day, as follows -
(i) Constituencies should be free to select their PPC from their own list: Central Office ‘approved’ lists should be disallowed.
(ii) Secret voting on all debates in Parliament. Voting record to be made public before reselection at the following General Election. This will help to diminish the often Machiavellian influence of the Whips.
(iii) 10% extra seats for small party and independent candidates – otherwise ‘all sides’ will never be heard. This would mean that about 60 constituencies would have 2 MPs – the ‘official’ MP being the ‘first past the post’ winner.
(iv) Reduce backbench MPs pay to £1000 per week – quite handsome I’d have thought. ‘Enough’ is enough: it’s said, ‘if you pay peanuts you get monkeys’ – but I say,’ if you pay big peanuts you get big monkeys’: just cast an eye over some those sitting in comfort on the green or the red benches in Parliament and test my claim.
(v) Disallow ALL MPs expenses – INSTEAD give MPs a plastic card (like the Police) which would enable them to travel FREE anywhere in the UK by public transport at any time. First class if available.
(vi) Build or convert a site close to the Palace of Westminster creating say 400 one bedroom flatlets for non-commuter belt MPs who need to spend time in London. They could have a flat FREE of charge on application. (10 years ago I suggested that the former GLC Building across the Thames would have been ideal).
(vii) £200 per week would be allowed for constituency secretarial/research assistance – and freedom to employ who they want: family or non family.
(viii) FREE access to secretarial/research pool at Westminster
(ix) SUBSIDISED food within the Palace of Westminster
The Welfare State
Government micromanagement of our daily lives is very unhealthy. The aim of State Welfare should simply be to create as level a playing field as possible, letting people take responsibility for their own lives……
- so that the young get the very best start in life possible
- so that the long-term sick get the best care possible
- so that the unemployed can live productively while they find work
-so that the elderly can live decently whatever their fortunes or misfortunes in life may have been
- and so that students in Further Education – the hope of the Nation tomorrow – are given every support and not put into long term debt
Dr Beveridge’s visionary Welfare State (the ‘safety net’ below which no one in a civilised society should fall) is 60 years past its sell-by date so…
(i) Scrap the DSS and Welfare System as it stands in its entirety and start again
(ii) Replace it with a Citizen’s Income of £240 per week Plus Worthwhile Occupation scheme (CI plus WO) and let recipients budget independently. This new-found independence would strike a positive blow against a debilitating dependency culture which is already tragically breeding a growing under-class. (£240 per week is the Government’s own official ‘poverty line’ minimum, so why only hand out less than £100 pw Job Seekers Allowance and force the unemployed to scrounge and lie to get a living dole out of a plethora of incomprehensible Benefits?) The Citizens’ Income would be automatic and would not be means tested so that all but a skeleton of the entire bureaucratic structure, its staff, its real estate and its mountain of printed forms would be scrapped overnight. Receipt of the CI however would be dependent on the recipient doing a full-time Government approved Worthwhile Occupation (q.v(v) below)
(iii) The long-term sick would receive more rigorous personal assessment but if qualified could now be entitled to greatly increased extra benefit as per needs
(iv) In addition to receiving a Citizens’ Income, FE Students would have all their tuition fees paid in full – bringing an immediate end to Student Loans and the disgrace of students starting off life in debt
(v) The Unemployed would be offered full time Government approved Worthwhile Occupation in order to qualify for the CI ( £240 per week) but they would have time off for interviews for other work of their choice if they so wished. Worthwhile Occupation (WO) could include – “Looking after your child/ren under16 years of age at home” – Government projects and public works – “Starting up your own Business”- VSO – proper Community Work etc etc. As the work offered would be real and worthwhile many people might chose to stay on this CI plus WO system as a life-time choice: and why not? It would be valuable and valued work and recipients could hold their heads high.
last word– this brief document is not intended to be in any way a policy manifesto – but the myriad of policies needed for the radical revival of the UK have to spring from sound foundations: the ideas suggested above would hopefully help to create those foundations. If implemented, sacrifices would have to be made, so I doubt if my suggestions will be greeted with universal enthusiasm in some quarters! However ‘sacrifice for the common good’, I suggest, is the order of the day. If society is demonstrably unfair and failing to meet legitimate needs, and if democracy is demonstrably undemocratic, then British Parliamentary Democracy will quickly be seen to be humbug, and voting for MPs whose motive for being there in the first place is flawed, to sit in a Parliament that has no sovereign power, will be dismissed as a waste of time and taxpayers money.
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