New Party for Britain - I like the look of this!!
Discussion
www.newpartyforbritain.org/whatwestandfor.htm
Check it out - is apparantly being financed by a few wealthy people
(see here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/03/nparty03.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/12/03/ixhome.html )
A viable alternative?? I definitely like the look of their proposed policies.
Check it out - is apparantly being financed by a few wealthy people
(see here: www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2002/12/03/nparty03.xml&sSheet=/news/2002/12/03/ixhome.html )
A viable alternative?? I definitely like the look of their proposed policies.
Here is a run down of their proposed policies so far...
"WHAT WE STAND FOR
Our policies, some of which we reveal today, are designed to bring about the complete replacement of our present political system and put in place polices able to deliver effective government for the 21st century, policies designed to rebuild our society, care for the poor and sick, educate our children and provide real jobs and skills. The policies of New Party for Britain are neither left nor right wing, but they are revolutionary and will most certainly, if adopted, transform British politics beyond all recognition.
We are pleased to give a brief summary of our headline policies. Over time, we will present the fine detail, but we hope that the measures outlined here will prove sufficient to give you an idea of what we are trying to achieve.
The policies
House of Commons operating procedures will be radically overhauled and the majority of debates will be conducted by political teams before panels of expert witnesses. This will allow several debates to take place simultaneously, remove the present logjam and produce a result based on logic rather than party dogma. People are concerned most of all about local issues and MPs will now spend much more time in their constituencies, with additional responsibility for local matters. The machinery of local government will also be radically modernised and slimmed down. Decentralisation and devolution will be halted and regional issues will be dealt with in a competent yet unique manner by high calibre local MPs empowered to tackle all issues, not just devolved ones. There will also be a fast-track programme of deregulation.
There will be a phased return to direct taxation, with higher earners paying more. Indirect taxes have a disproportionate effect on the poorest and as much taxation as possible will be based on the ability to pay. Personal taxation will be greatly simplified and variable rates of corporation tax will be introduced to help restore our declining manufacturing base.
Transport infrastructure will be modernised. New roads will be provided with the capacity to handle projected future increases. The rail network will be placed under national control and the price of rail travel reduced. At the same time causative factors of travel will be tackled and local government and civil service jobs, in particular, will be relocated away from inner city areas.
Prisons will be reformed, with young offenders kept away from hardened criminals and given a basic education and skills training. Custodial sentences will be tailored to individual offenders and the length of sentences will normally be determined by offenders achieving the combination of social responsibility, basic education and employable skills deemed necessary to allow them to re-enter society either free or on probation.
Student fees will be abolished for many subjects and the education system reformed with better trained teachers and pupil streaming. NHS working practices, infrastructure and equipment will all be modernised and a pre-legal compulsory arbitration process will be put in place to deal with complaints and claims.
The welfare system will be overhauled and returned to the original concept of being a safety net of last resort, rather than a viable alternative to work. Pensions will be simplified and the state scheme will be extended to provide additional working capital for the national infrastructure.
Our policy on asylum seekers will be tightened up with additional controls placed on passenger terminals and borders and automatic repatriation to all democratic countries. Our foreign policy will also become more focussed and we will take a more pro-active role in promoting democracy overseas including redefining our relationships with dictatorships.
We will work with our partners in Europe to reform the wasteful EU subsidy system. We will also concentrate on eliminating widespread fraud, stifling bureaucracy and crippling over-regulation. We believe that substantial reform of the EU is now essential to ensure its survival and we will work to ensure it happens, but this will have to be achieved within a predetermined timescale.
The intention is to give Britain the opportunity of voting for a brand new political system and manifesto capable of stabilising the economy and taking Britain forward into the 21st century in a progressive and single tier society. However, if it becomes apparent that Britain is not ready for such radical change, then the party will be disbanded, ahead of the next election. Our policies are strong and progressive, they will involve difficult decisions, and there will be losers as well as winners. But, they are each designed to support the other and, professionally implemented as a combined package, they will rapidly begin to build a strong, fair and successful New Britain."
"WHAT WE STAND FOR
Our policies, some of which we reveal today, are designed to bring about the complete replacement of our present political system and put in place polices able to deliver effective government for the 21st century, policies designed to rebuild our society, care for the poor and sick, educate our children and provide real jobs and skills. The policies of New Party for Britain are neither left nor right wing, but they are revolutionary and will most certainly, if adopted, transform British politics beyond all recognition.
We are pleased to give a brief summary of our headline policies. Over time, we will present the fine detail, but we hope that the measures outlined here will prove sufficient to give you an idea of what we are trying to achieve.
The policies
House of Commons operating procedures will be radically overhauled and the majority of debates will be conducted by political teams before panels of expert witnesses. This will allow several debates to take place simultaneously, remove the present logjam and produce a result based on logic rather than party dogma. People are concerned most of all about local issues and MPs will now spend much more time in their constituencies, with additional responsibility for local matters. The machinery of local government will also be radically modernised and slimmed down. Decentralisation and devolution will be halted and regional issues will be dealt with in a competent yet unique manner by high calibre local MPs empowered to tackle all issues, not just devolved ones. There will also be a fast-track programme of deregulation.
There will be a phased return to direct taxation, with higher earners paying more. Indirect taxes have a disproportionate effect on the poorest and as much taxation as possible will be based on the ability to pay. Personal taxation will be greatly simplified and variable rates of corporation tax will be introduced to help restore our declining manufacturing base.
Transport infrastructure will be modernised. New roads will be provided with the capacity to handle projected future increases. The rail network will be placed under national control and the price of rail travel reduced. At the same time causative factors of travel will be tackled and local government and civil service jobs, in particular, will be relocated away from inner city areas.
Prisons will be reformed, with young offenders kept away from hardened criminals and given a basic education and skills training. Custodial sentences will be tailored to individual offenders and the length of sentences will normally be determined by offenders achieving the combination of social responsibility, basic education and employable skills deemed necessary to allow them to re-enter society either free or on probation.
Student fees will be abolished for many subjects and the education system reformed with better trained teachers and pupil streaming. NHS working practices, infrastructure and equipment will all be modernised and a pre-legal compulsory arbitration process will be put in place to deal with complaints and claims.
The welfare system will be overhauled and returned to the original concept of being a safety net of last resort, rather than a viable alternative to work. Pensions will be simplified and the state scheme will be extended to provide additional working capital for the national infrastructure.
Our policy on asylum seekers will be tightened up with additional controls placed on passenger terminals and borders and automatic repatriation to all democratic countries. Our foreign policy will also become more focussed and we will take a more pro-active role in promoting democracy overseas including redefining our relationships with dictatorships.
We will work with our partners in Europe to reform the wasteful EU subsidy system. We will also concentrate on eliminating widespread fraud, stifling bureaucracy and crippling over-regulation. We believe that substantial reform of the EU is now essential to ensure its survival and we will work to ensure it happens, but this will have to be achieved within a predetermined timescale.
The intention is to give Britain the opportunity of voting for a brand new political system and manifesto capable of stabilising the economy and taking Britain forward into the 21st century in a progressive and single tier society. However, if it becomes apparent that Britain is not ready for such radical change, then the party will be disbanded, ahead of the next election. Our policies are strong and progressive, they will involve difficult decisions, and there will be losers as well as winners. But, they are each designed to support the other and, professionally implemented as a combined package, they will rapidly begin to build a strong, fair and successful New Britain."
deltaf said: Nothing to lose basically.
I disagree - the last thing this country needs is chaos (or arguably, further choas). There is no precedent for success arising from what is proposed - in essence it's another UK PLC concept as often described before.
However, I totally agree that there has to be a rapid change of political process in this country. We cannot sustain the damage that the present government is doing to the infrastructure areas of healthcare, transport, law&order and manufacturing (I'm not sure about education). More worrying to me is the total lack of viability of any opposition party to Labour and the inevitable further term of office Labour will win at the next election. The consequences of this are frankly of horrific proportions in terms of loss of civil liberties and erosion of societal values.
I am prepared to offer support to this new party so that it may at least get to a position where the substance may be presented and we can make a decision about whether it might have the balls to become a sensible and organized opposition able to attract broad popular support. If not it should quickly slip back out of the spotlight as the founders have arranged through their anonimity.
Why do I have a feeling that this is a Branson/Hesseltine/Murdoch collaboration
Hutch
This does sound quite interesting, though I'm a bit concerned by the unwillingness of those behind it to identify themselves. Their assertion that they don't want debate about the personalities to detract from the policy debate is a bit weak. We've got enough faceless spin doctors running the country right now, that's half the problem. What we need as much as anything is a bit of accountability. I will watch with interest but wouldn't get too involved until these people step out of the shadows.
Chris
Chris
Peace will reign throughout the land
rottweilers will no longer attack children and in schools better trained teachers will begin produceing citizens again, lambs will lie down with the man from Maff etc etc
I could draw a wish lish - in fact anyone could - but how to deliver these things... this is what has sunk Bliar (ok is currently sinking him) all mouth no action !
rottweilers will no longer attack children and in schools better trained teachers will begin produceing citizens again, lambs will lie down with the man from Maff etc etc
I could draw a wish lish - in fact anyone could - but how to deliver these things... this is what has sunk Bliar (ok is currently sinking him) all mouth no action !
vtecsilver said: Looks like most of their changes require investment or finance. Can't see how they will be able to get the money to implement all these nice ideas without tax being raised considerably.
surely the process of streamlining services and reducing fraud etc is the best way of creating finance ?
The headlines sound awfy nice, but I'd like to see it costed, and more detail provided - it's all well and nice to say you'd reform the NHS to make it work better, for eg, but how are you going to do that? Successive governments have tried without much success, and believe it or not those successive governments are not 100% filled with brain dead idiots.
The upfront costs of creating the changes would be large and would take quite a long time to implement - and if it didn't work, there woiuld be a fairly high level of chaos.
I suspect tax would have to go up too - some of these changes would not be cheap. Tax in the UK is not all that high by comparsion with the rest of Europe (just over 40% of GDP cf >50% for many others - that's why (eg) the French NHS is better and they have better roads and railways, they pay for it through the nose and have high unemployment as one of the consequences) - it's mostly the manner in which it is collected by deceit that causes resentment.
I'm also really underwhelmed by people who make this kind of world-saving proclamation but keep their identities anonymous.
The upfront costs of creating the changes would be large and would take quite a long time to implement - and if it didn't work, there woiuld be a fairly high level of chaos.
I suspect tax would have to go up too - some of these changes would not be cheap. Tax in the UK is not all that high by comparsion with the rest of Europe (just over 40% of GDP cf >50% for many others - that's why (eg) the French NHS is better and they have better roads and railways, they pay for it through the nose and have high unemployment as one of the consequences) - it's mostly the manner in which it is collected by deceit that causes resentment.
I'm also really underwhelmed by people who make this kind of world-saving proclamation but keep their identities anonymous.
mannginger said:
manek said: Weirdly -- so would I... possibly. Though the Platonic style of government (run by experts) has yet to be tried in a modern state...
Why weirdly Manek?? (is an interesting piece of thinking re: managers etc and specialist debaters tho)
Only weirdly becasue I expected it to be a standard right-wing rant -- and, impressively, it wasn't.
Gassing Station | General Gassing [Archive] | Top of Page | What's New | My Stuff