A crisis of the highest making – British democracy

There have been allegations around the existence of a Westminster paedophile ring for at least thirty years. These allegations have gone hand in hand with suggestions of police corruption and orders from on high to abort  any form of investigation into the existence of a Westminster paedophile ring, armed for good measure with an alleged cover-up by the very authorities on which we depend to investigate and prosecute guilty parties. These allegations concern high ranking members of the highest order, including both current and past MP’s, members of the house of lords, the secret services and high ranking police officers. It was only under duress, that home secretary Theresa May announced a public inquiry into the allegations last year. Two appointed chairpersons of the public enquiry have been forced to stand down due to concerns about their impartiality.

The members of high society are accused of having systematically sexually abused children as young as eight years old, the most vile and disgusting crime imaginable, yet none of this has been properly reported in the so called “free” British press. In fact it took an Australian journalist from the program 60 minutes to investigate and report these allegations to any degree.  This has lead to further allegations against the British “free” press and media channels of coercion in the alleged cover-up. Much of the general public are both disgraced and disgusted that more has not been done to properly investigate these allegations and bring the perpetrators of the alleged crimes to justice. After all, we are all allegedly equal before the law and the law applies equally to all of us, does it not?

Last weekend, NHS staff and their supporters responded to wholly untrue allegations from our Secretary of State for health Jeremy Hunt, that many NHS consultants are currently opting o working weekends and this is leading to a higher likelihood of death for patients admitted to hospital at the weekend. The response was a campaign on social media site twitter using the hashtag #ImInWorkJeremy which achieved widespread support. The campaign has been followed up by a petition on the governments own petition website, that is ultimately calling for the resignation of Jeremy Hunt. The petition received more than the required 100,000 signatures in less than three days, to initiate a potential debate in the house of commons. However, the governments response to the petition, has been to repeat it’s completely untrue rhetoric about a significant number of NHS consultants opting out of working at the weekend and the alleged increased likelihood of death for patients admitted to hospital at the weekend. Clearly our government are not listening to the almost 186,000 people who signed the petition.

This week, all but 48 of our labour MP’s, toed the party line by abstaining from the vote on the second reading of our governments welfare bill, which plans to further reduce the benefits cap to £20,000 per annum for those living outside London, cut tax credits for thousands of working families and abolish housing benefit for those under the age of 21, to name a few. Then on Thursday, Tony Blair made a speech where he said that anyone who has the politics of Jeremy Corbyn in their heart needs a transplant. A vile and disgusting attack on those who support Jeremy Corbyn in his campaign for leader of the labour party. Clearly, the other three Blairite candidates and their supporters are getting worried about the increasing popularity among the public for Corbyn. Growing numbers of people are angry about the politics of the neo-liberalists such as Blair & co, the liberal democrats and the tories. It is neither representing them, nor meeting their needs. Jeremy Corbyn is the only candidate offering an alternative and the neo-liberals are feeling threatened by this. Prepare for more vile and even personal attacks on Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters.

Evidently the labour party are in crisis. They have lost their way and forgotten the fundamental principles on which the party was founded. The party no longer represents the vast majority of poorer working people and instead are trying to chase the traditional labour voters who left them at the last two general elections, with a tory lite agenda that supports austerity, cuts to welfare, the selloff of our public assets, all of which disproportionally effect poorer people. Ultimately I think the labour party are finished as a major party in British politics, but if there is anyone who might be able to save them, it is Jeremy Corbyn. I believe though, that even if he is elected, the mammoth task at hand will prove too much even for Corbyn, as there will be no end to the dirty tricks campaign his opposers and others will go to in order to discredit him.

These are all very good examples of why I suggest that democracy in Britain is in crisis, if not dead. They also provide some of the reasons I have decided I cannot sit back and complain from the side lines anymore. Radical action is needed. That is why I have setup a new grassroots group for individuals who are concerned about the crisis our society now faces. The groups purpose is to provide a platform for anyone with UK residency to come together to discuss, debate, design and build a better, fairer and more democratic UK society, where everyone will have an equal chance to prosper.

Group meetings are being held online as webinars and the first meeting of the group is scheduled for this coming Monday 27^th July at 8pm. Anyone who is UK resident and wants to be a part of building something better can join us by sending an email to redesigndemocracy@yahoo.co.uk.

People power - coming together to design the UK society in which we want to live

Disabled people, unemployed people, students, Muslim people, students, elderly people, and the sick have all been the subject of our governments vile and disgusting, demonising attacks and their latest target is our Drs. As a part of our governments campaign for a seven day NHS, which we already have, secretary of state for health Jeremy Hunt announced he would be introducing new contracts for consultants that would force them to work weekends. But the truth is we already have drs, nurses, radiographers, surgeons, anaesthetists, porters, cleaners, healthcare workers and consultants working 24 hours per day, 7 days per week, 365 days per year.  The campaign to deliver a 7 day NHS is nothing more than an insulting attack on our NHS staff. It wants to demonise them in the eyes of the public, in pursuit of it’s ultimate goal to privatise our NHS. This is evidenced by the barely publicised announcement last weekend that a new parliamentary committee has been set up to look into the possibility of privatising our NHS.

Another part of the true agenda is the announcement from NHS England chief executive Simon Stevens that the NHS will need an additional £30billion by 2020 in order to maintain it’s current level of service and that £22billion of this would come from efficiency savings. The truth is that £22billion worth of efficiency savings is unachievable and Mr Simons knows it. The plan is to declare the current model for our NHS unworkable when NHS England fails to make those efficiency savings, at which point it will be handed over to the private sector to run. When Aneurin Bevan set up our NHS, he declared that it would continue for as long as there were people willing to support it. Sixty seven years later our NHS is on a cliff edge and in dire need of people to support it.

There have been a number of demonstrations and other campaigns against the governments plans to privatise our NHS, but the vast majority of the public seemed unconcerned or unmoved by these plans. Our NHS does not belong to the government and they certainly don’t have a mandate from the public for their intentions. Our NHS belongs to us and I suggest it is not for us to give away what has been freely given to us. Our politicians in opposition have proven themselves both unwilling and unable to challenge the governments plans, so that responsibility falls to us the people. I believe that the majority of the public are both unaware of the governments true intentions and of what privatising our NHS would actually mean. They don’t know that a two tier healthcare system would be created, with world class healthcare available for those who can afford it and little or no provision for those who cannot. The majority of the public don’t realise that there will be no more free healthcare. Access to everything from the ability to see a GP to major lifesaving surgery will be dictated by the providers of an individuals health insurance policy.

At the same time, our government is driving a counter productive and ideological program of austerity against our young people, disabled people, poor people and those who are least able to defend themselves, while handing out tax breaks to the rich and multi national corporations. All public sector workers have endured a five year pay freeze and our chancellor has just awarded them a 1% pay increase, while MP’s have been awarded a 9.6% increase, despite 88% of respondents in a public survey objected to the rise. In 2014, an estimated £122billion in tax revenue went unpaid, while our public sector services are being annihilated. Britain has the sixth richest economy in the world, yet 13.7million of it’s citizens are living in poverty and 4million of those are children. In the 2015 general election 33.4% of those eligible to vote felt so disconnected and unrepresented by the candidates, that they did not cast their vote. The election result produced a conservative majority government that only 24.7% of the electorate voted for. Overall, the results were the most disproportionate of any election in our history.

Our politicians are not listening to us and appear to have forgotten to whom they are supposed to serve. In response, a new group is being setup. It’s purpose will be to provide a platform for UK residents who are concerned about the situation to come together to discuss, debate, design & build a better, fairer UK society in which we all want to live and where everyone will be treated equally. Meetings of the new group will take place online as webinars and plans are in place for the first meeting to take place during the last week in July. Anyone may join, by sending an email to redesigndemocracy@yahoo.co.uk in order to be added to the list of invitees.

Although the group will have one facilitator of the meetings, it has been designed so that there are no group leaders. All group members will have an equal voice and an equal opportunity to participate in the groups discussions, debates and activities. Members will make all decisions, from naming the group to deciding it’s ultimate goals and everything in between. The group will not be associated with any other groups or organisations and will raise their own funds on an as needed basis and as it’s members see fit. This will be a mass movement of the people, coming together to decide the role and makeup of the kind of UK society in which we want to live.   

The people of Greece are showing us the way to a better, fairer more democratic society

The people of Greece have spoken and cried a resounding no to the politics of the elitists of the EU. Their democratically elected government, exercised democracy by allowing the people to decide whether or not to accept the EU deal. Despite the familiar tactics of scaremongering, fear and threats from right wing politicians right across the EU, the people of Greece have rejected the terms of more austerity from the EU, ECB and IMF. For the first time ever, the people have stood up to the bullies and said enough is enough, no longer will we bow to your impossible demands. Their decision takes Greece and their creditors into unchartered territory, as Ireland, Spain, Italy & Portugal all accepted the terms of their creditors terms for a bailout. Nobody knows what will happen next. Right wing politicians are spreading threats that the EU will eject Greece from the Euro, but it does not have the mandate to do so. Those on the left are calling for some of the Greek debt to be written off and a new repayment agreement being drawn up over a longer period of time. Without a mandate and with Britain holding an in/out referendum on the EU by 2017, it seems unlikely the EU will want to rock the boat by expelling Greece from the Euro.

What is clear from the Greek referendum is that democracy works. It was right that the Greek prime minister let the people decide whether or not to accept the deal on offer. Although completely unfamiliar in modern British politics and across the world, power should ultimately lay with the people. Decisions about the kind of society we want to live in should be made by the people, rather than centralised bureaucrats in government. We would not be living under a ideological program of austerity in Britain, while the richest in our society are given tax cuts if we lived in a true democracy where the people make the decisions. The resounding victory in Greece, clears the way for other EU nations to make a stand against enforced austerity, in favour of a more democratic and sensible approach to our economic issues.

In a more democratic society the people would decide the rates of taxes payable. We would empower our tax collector with the resources it needs to collect all taxes that are due. Obtaining a licence to trade in Britain would come with a commitment from all companies to pay all taxes in full and on time. Directors of corporations would be made liable for the corporations’ actions and those not paying the taxes due would be dealt with using the full force of the law. If a corporation tries to avoid paying tax by artificially shifting their profits to an overseas secrecy jurisdiction, the UK company directors would be prosecuted for non payment of tax. We could use the proceeds of crime act to seize the companies UK assets until the tax owed is paid and if it is not, sell the assets in order to reimburse the public purse. Where a bank is suspected of illegal trading such as rigging the rate of libor, the SFO would be called in to investigate. Individuals found to have participated, would be arrested and prosecuted in a court of law, as would directors of the bank who can be proven to have known of the illegal rigging activity. Again, the banks assets could be frozen and sold off to compensate the public purse for any estimated losses. The ultimate sanction, reserved for repeat offenders would be to withdraw their trading licence, making it impossible for them to trade in Britain.

It is wholly undemocratic that HMRC are not accountable to parliament. In a new democratic society HMRC would be made accountable to a government minister of taxation. The minister would therefore be accountable for the operation of HMRC and ensuring it is enabled to collect all taxes that are due on time. With the right number of staff and other resources, HMRC would be empowered to tackle the estimated £104billion in lost tax revenue through avoidance and evasion in 2014. It would reopen the network of local tax offices across the country, allowing people to have their concerns resolved face to face with a member of staff. The current practice of business friendly relationships with large multi national corporations would be abolished and those corporations who do not pay the taxes they owe would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. The mega rich and large corporations would no longer view HMRC as a soft touch tax collector, while being over zealous with individuals and small and medium sized businesses. It would be a firm but fair tax collector, treating all it’s customers the same.

Individuals who do not pay their taxes would be treated in exactly the same way as corporations. Through a public register of ownership and improved tax agreements with other nations, anyone identified as hiding money overseas from the taxman would be prosecuted to the full extent of the law. There would be no more cosy deals like was seen in the recent case of HSBC Swiss bank, where eleven hundred British nationals were found to have been evading tax by hiding money in Swiss bank accounts. The law would apply equally to everyone, regardless of their wealth or position in society. The people would set the applicable rates of tax, and everyone would be expected to make their contribution to society. Tax revenue would be spent on a public education system, a national health service, publicly owned systems of transport, a welfare system, through which we would look after those who are unable to look after themselves for whatever reason and any other provision as determined by the people.

All tax revenues and spending would be made freely available online by local constituency councils. The spending of public money would be open and transparent for all to see. The people would determine the salaries of all public sector workers and members of the local constituency council would vote on any proposal for a bonus to be paid to a public sector worker. The national minimum wage would be raised to a living wage and enforced by law. Any employer found to be paying anyone eligible to work in Britain less than the minimum wage would be prosecuted, with the ultimate sanction being the removal of that employers trading licence.

A full frontal attack on the working poor

During the build up to the 2015 general election the conservative & labour parties jointly agreed on a further £30billion of austerity cuts from public spending. As the only two parties in our out dated and wholly undemocratic electoral system who could lead a government, it was a cast iron guarantee even before the election that the previous coalitions program of austerity was here to stay, whatever the result of the election. Sanctioned by just 24% of the electorate, we now have a conservative majority government for the next five years. While an estimated 250,000 people demonstrated in the streets of London last Saturday against the governments’ austerity measures, minister for work & pension Ian Duncan Smith announced that plans for their pre announced £12billion of cuts to the welfare bill will be produced in the chancellor’s emergency budget on 8^th July. He demonstrators declared they were sending a message to David Cameron, but clearly he was not listening and in fact had a message of his own, “austerity will continue despite your demonstrations.” Leading economists, the International Monetary Fund, the Office for Budget Responsibility, members with the conservative party and others have joined a growing chorus of pleas for a rethink, but David Cameron & Co are moving forward with their plans regardless.

All we know at the moment is that the £12billion of cuts to the welfare budget will not effect pensioners income, simply because they are more likely to vote conservative at an election. There is however widespread speculation of plans to cut working tax credits and housing benefit for young people. Despite the governments’ claims that wages are rising and having created 1,000 jobs per day over the period of the last parliament, the truth is that wages are still below their pre financial crisis peak in real terms and many of those new jobs are either part time, in zero hours contracts or self employment. The resulting low household incomes, means that the vast majority are claiming some form of tax credits to top up their low wages. Those with children will also be negatively effected under the speculated plans, which include reducing child tax credit payments back to their 2003 levels. The Institute for Fiscal Studies have calculated the move would reduce entitlement for 3.7million low income families by £1,400 per year, while saving £5billion from the welfare bill. David Cameron has said that the UK should be paying out less in tax credits and that companies should pay workers higher salaries instead. I agree with him, but he should not be cutting benefits from low income families unless or until higher wages are actually being paid.

According to the campaign group End Child Poverty, there are 4million children living in poverty in Britain. That equates to 1 in 3 children and is among the highest rate in the industrialised world. If our government go ahead as planned with their cuts to in work benefits including working tax credits, there were be an additional 600,000 children living in poverty by 2020. Last week, David Cameron very publicly called on world leaders to unite in order to eradicate child poverty by 2030, but in this case actions speak louder than words. Parents are already being forced to get into more debt in order to meet the basic needs of feeding their children and keeping a roof over their heads. These planned cuts to in work benefits will effect millions more people and leading economists have already warned of increasing personal debt and the possibilities of a personal debt crisis such as the one seen in 2008. Our government, the vast right wing media and right wing think tanks such as the IFS and Taxpayers Alliance are alienating sections of our communities by attacking them and spreading their lies about the importance of reducing the budget deficit and our national debt. In truth, none of these measures are about reducing the deficit, they are an ideologically driven agenda and all out assault on the poorest, disabled people and those least able to defend themselves.

If the government did genuinely want to help and reward working people and children out of poverty, there are a number of alternatives ways to do this. Raising the national minimum wage to a living wage and properly enforcing it is one such approach and would mean that the need for in work benefits would be vastly reduced overnight. But in doing so, the government would have to make a much more concerted effort in enforcing the national minimum wage. Since the then new labour government in 1999 introduced it, there has not been a single prosecution of an employer for not paying it. An adequate system of initial financial penalty and eventual criminal prosecution must be introduced to enforce the national minimum wage. The government seems to have paid equally scant regard to the young people who will be effected by the suggestions it plans to cut their housing benefit payments. What will happen to the young people who for whatever reason cannot live with their parents and therefore need to have a place of their own, but cannot afford the rent? No consideration has been given to where these young people are going to live. The more democratic option would be for our government to enforce a cap on the outrageous rents being charged by private landlords.

Another way to reduce poverty and eventually our welfare bill would be to invest in building more social housing. Through a scheme championed by fair tax campaigner and economist Richard Murphy the chancellor could use a new program of quantative easing to build the homes we so desperately need. As was done with the banks between 2009-11, the bank of England could release perhaps up to £50billion per year into the housing economy in a huge house building program. In simple terms, quantative easing is effectively the bank of England printing free money and therefore would not increase the national debt. As Murphy suggests, we could call this program green quantative easing and make the houses being built the most environmentally possible, thereby reducing energy bills for their inhabitants and helping the government to reach it’s targets for carbon emission reductions. The new house building program would create new jobs, meaning higher household incomes, increased tax revenues for the government, better standards of living and millions of children being lifted out of poverty. People would have more disposable income, meaning more spending in the high street, which will help other businesses and the treasury from the increased spending. All of these steps would help give our economy a much needed boost.

However as David Cameron & Co demonstrated last Saturday, they are not interested in listening to calls from the those they were elected to serve and will carry on regardless with their neoliberal thinking and ideologically driven agenda regardless of what the people say. The labour party are equally committed to austerity, although a slightly lighter version than the tories and have proven themselves to be totally incapable of either holding the government to account, or offering an opposing argument in any meaningful way. While I am a strong supporter of Jeremy Corbyn’s policies and ideas, I can’t see him and his supporters being able to realise the reform of British politics that we need and bring a more democratic and fairer society to Britain. There is simply too much opposition to this kind of politics in our current system. We must tear down the British state and rebuild it from scratch and the only way I know of doing this is to create a new constitution, written by the people, for the people. Let us come together and create the kind of British society we want to live in.