Saturday, March 24, 2007

My Manifesto

After another day of being annoyed by idiot politicians I thought I'd set out my own manifesto.....

Make voting compulsory
Ban Postal Votes
Set MP's wages at twice the national average wage. Ministers get 3 times. If they think they can do better elsewhere then so be it. Couldn't do much worse.
Similarly cap Civil Servants and senior council empoyees wages.
Prospective MP's must have held non political paid employment before being eligible to stand. i.e. no career politicians.
Remove all perks for MPs and require invoices for all expense claims.
Make all government employees pensions based on contributions effective immediately.
Make all government employees retirement age in line with the rest of the population.
Renationalisation of essential services i.e. Power and Water.
Renationalisation of the railways.
Make the Office of National Statistics independent.
Reintroduce the 11 Plus. Discard all other testing other than the equivalent of O and A Levels. Project work is not to be counted towards exam results.
Flat Car Tax.
Car Insurance must be displayed in vehicle.
Road and Fuel Tax to be spent on roads.
Parking charges capped at the cost of provision.
Remove all speed bumps and traffic calming other than outside schools. Presumption is to be based on the free flow of traffic.
Remove all speed cameras other than outside schools or proven blackspots.
Speed cameras must be visible and have speed limit displayed on the rear of the camera and painted on the road.
Scrap Road Pricing.
Restrict Mortgage lending to proven multiple of earnings.
Abolish inheritance tax.
All outsourcing of NHS services, particularly cleaning, to be abolished. NHS managers to be criminally responsible.
Bins to be emptied weekly.
All Political funding to be transparent. Obvious scams such as Loans to be a criminal offence.
Chief Constables to be elected.
Require return of local police stations and beat officers.
Council Cabinets to be abolished.
No re-evaluation of Council tax.
Council Tax frozen.
Loan Interest rates to be capped. Usurious rates to be legally unenforceable.
Scrap ID card Project.
Government IT projects to be scrutinised by independant review body (not appointed by the goverment)
Reinstate the Lords
Remove the hunting ban.
Automatic assumption of guilt for any intruder in your property. Onus on criminal to prove otherwise.
Postpone any decision on Trident for as long as possible
No increase in TV license for 5 years.
Scrap turn off of Analogue TV signal.
Restore Capital punishment for Treason.
Try Blair as a war criminal.
Withdraw all troops from the Middle East.
All taxation to be transparent and not for social engineering.
Start building nuclear reactors now. We already have the cost of disposing of the waste and a bit more isn't going to make any difference.
Single parenting to be discouraged as a life style option but supported for those that need it.
Make unemployment benefit actually worth something to the real workers.
Apply common sense to all policies.
And for those that say how are you going to pay for this the answer should be "honestly". No stealth taxes, no huge waste, just common sense and an explanation of what the taxes are being used for. If it can't be afforded if can't be done or the tax required and what it will be spent on should be clearly laid out, not just throwing money at a problem.



I'm sure I'll think of some more....

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

PRESS RELEASE ISSUED BY THE ISITFAIR COUNCIL TAX PROTEST GROUP

For further press information, please contact: Christine Melsom on 01428-712680 or E-mail c@isitfair.co.uk

22 March 2007

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

[start of press release]

ISITFAIR CAMPAIGN'S REACTION TO LYONS INQUIRY REPORT

Christine Melsom, founder of the Isitfair Council Tax protest group, issued the following statement following yesterday's publication of the final report of the Lyons Inquiry into Local Government.

"We've waited 3 years for their recommendations and we can find very few crumbs of comfort for supporters of Isitfair. We will continue to campaign for a fairer system of taxation for local services.

The recommendations, if ever implemented, may help some of those who currently struggle to meet their bills but they fail to address the root causes of the growing opposition to Council Tax and are no more than a patching up exercise.

The Lyons Inquiry acknowledges the unfairness of Council Tax but was unwilling to bite the bullet and propose any radical change for the foreseeable future.

Their proposals for additional bands are merely tinkering with the present system. People living in large houses are not necessarily rich and people living in low banded houses are not necessarily poor. The inherent unfairness of the present system cannot be addressed by a few changes to property bands.

We strongly oppose the proposed removal of capping on Council Tax increases as long as the present system remains. This would inevitably be the green light for councils to impose further massive hikes in Council Tax.

We then have the prospect of additional charges for waste collection and also a proposed tourist tax. We believe the cost of collecting and administering such taxes would be disproportionate to the amount of additional tax being raised.

We welcome the proposal to increase the savings limit for Council Tax Benefit eligibility as a short term measure. However if the tax was related to income and/or spending the complete Council Tax Benefits system would be irrelevant as would the need for regular property revaluations.

Isitfair is sometimes wrongly portrayed as a campaign only for pensioners - we do not support an entitlement to a reduction in Council Tax based solely on age. There are many non-pensioners struggling to pay this tax, and there are also some pensioners for whom Council Tax is a trivial expense. Isitfair represents people of all age groups who are being unfairly affected by Council Tax and we want a fairer system for everyone.

We have published our own "Alternative Lyons Report", an independent study conducted for Isitfair, which can be found at http://www.isitfair.co.uk/MichealBoon/mb_page.asp "

[end of press release]

For further press information, please contact: Christine Melsom on 01428-712680 or E-mail c@isitfair.co.uk

Issued by Isitfair Campaign, Headley, Hampshire GU35 8PJ