BCiP member Sophie Loussouarn compares the British and French economies in her article « Quand la France devient le contre-exemple absolu dans la campagne électorale des conservateurs britanniques »
Posts Tagged ‘2015 Election’
French Economy Not Best Example To follow?
vendredi, février 20th, 2015Freedom of Movement within the EU – by Robin Baker
jeudi, novembre 6th, 2014The freedom of movement of workers within the Community and the freedom of establishment of nationals of one member state within the territory of another are, as we are frequently reminded, fundamental principles established by the then EEC in 1957 and maintained by the European Union today.
Currently they are increasingly questioned by the Eurosceptic wing of the Conservative Party. To me that means that is has become time to go back and ask why these principles were established.
There are two key reasons. One is the question of individual liberty. Governments should not dictate to citizens where they can go and where they can live and work. The benefit of that hardly needs emphasising to UK members of British Conservatives in Paris; we take advantage of it either just to live or to both live and work here. Many French citizens do the same in Great Britain.
The second is that this liberty is an economic benefit, to individuals and to the economy of Europe as a whole. It permits workers, particularly the most motivated and the most valuable among them, to go where the contribution that they make is most valued and most appreciated. That maximises the economic benefit that they make to Europe as a whole. Many of the French who work in the UK are a good example of this. Their economic contribution is more appreciated in our country because our lower level of bureaucracy enables it to flourish and bear fruit whereas in France it could be stifled by control and regulation. That benefits the French concerned, the UK in general and in time it may benefit France itself if it eventually forces the Government here to reduce their regulatory controls.
What I do not understand is how any Conservative can oppose these principles of individual liberty and the prevention of government imposed rules leading to sub-economic decisions. Both are fundamental to the Conservative Party. In the 1960s and 70s, leaders of the Conservative Party such as Macmillan and Heath understood that. These principles need re-asserting now so that our political leaders can learn to understand them again.
Robin Baker
BCiP Member
Conservative Party should beware UKIP Bigotry
lundi, octobre 27th, 2014Read this thought-provoking article for the Conservative Party by Adam Bienkov writing in politics.co.uk:
« History has shown that the Tories can only win a majority by appealing to a broad range of voters across the country. This is how they have won majorities in the past and they abandon that aim at their peril. »
http://www.politics.co.uk/blogs/2014/10/27/the-bigotry-of-ukip-is-swamping-the-conservative-party
Thank you Mr Carswell – by Robin Baker
vendredi, septembre 19th, 2014Thank you Mr Carswell (the former Conservative MP for Clacton and now UKIP candidate) for leaving the Conservative Party. We are better off without you. To see why, let us look firstly at the blog you have published as a new member of UKIP:
?We need change in our relationship with Europe.
When we joined what was to become the European Union all those years ago, we imagined we would be joining a prosperous trading block. In the early 1970s, it accounted for almost 40 percent of world economic output.
Today it accounts for a mere 25 percent. In a decade, it?s expected to be down to 15 percent.?
Yes, and a very good thing this fall in the EU?s share of world economic output is too. The EU has 7.3% of the world?s population, does Mr Carswell really think that our share of the world?s wealth should be more than three and a half times our share of the population? This change results from the strength of economic growth in the emerging economies and that is to everybody?s benefit: firstly because economic disparity between the poor and the rich is dangerous for world stability, secondly because we should be glad to see the world?s poor becoming less so, and thirdly for the selfish reason that the richer they are, the more they will be able to trade with us and so increase our prosperity as well.
Mr Carswell should be aware of one simple illustration of how the world has changed. When we joined the then EEC in 1973, the price of oil was some $2 – 3 per barrel. Today it hovers around the $100/barrel mark. Does he think that this should not have changed the balance of economic wealth?
He then followed this blog with an article in the International New York Times, which repeated that inanity from the blog and added:
?Instead of using primaries to select candidates for parliamentary seats, party hierarchies parachute in those whom they favour.?
The only reason I can think of for Mr Carswell to use a foreign newspaper to write such rubbish about his own country, is because most of its readers will not recognise that his remarks are simply untrue. The decision on the selection of Conservative parliamentary candidates was previously always made by a general meeting open to all members of the local party. True, Party headquarters has, on occasions, tried to parachute in a preferred candidate from outside, but these attempts have generally failed, indeed for a candidate to be known to have HQ support has been the kiss of death. But the Party is now more and more moving away from the ?local Party members? system to taking these decisions by ?open primaries?, i.e. a primary in which any elector in that constituency may vote whether or not they are Party members. Two Conservative MPs elected in 2010 had been selected in that way and a number of candidates have already been chosen by that system for the election in 2015.
The Conservative candidate for the Clacton by-election caused by Mr Carswell has been chosen by such an open primary, this was done on 11th September, a week before Mr Carswell?s article was published. There was, however, one candidate who was parachuted in by his party hierarchy for this by-election. The UKIP candidate for Clacton had already been selected, by local UKIP members. When Carswell defected from the Conservative Party, that candidate was unceremoniously booted out and Nigel Farage parachuted in Douglas Carswell to fight the seat.
One other lie in the New York Times article, which says: ?Most Laws made in Britain this year emanated from the European Union.? Mr Carswell may no longer be an MP, but he can still read reports by the House of Commons Library, a highly respected and independent source of information. They have studied this question and found:
?It is possible to estimate the proportion of national laws based on EU laws. In the UK, over the twelve-year period from 1997 to 2009 6.8% of primary legislation (Statutes) and 14.1% of secondary legislation (Statutory Instruments) had a role in implementing EU obligations.
It is possible to justify any measure between 15% and 50% or thereabouts. This includes olive and tobacco growing regulations which are unlikely to have much impact in Britain.?
We do not need Mr Carswell?s shallow thinking in the Conservative Party, nor do we want his lies. He is highly suitable for UKIP, where such thinking is a requirement for membership. That is why, Mr Carswell, the Conservative Party is better off without you. Thank you for leaving the Conservative Party.
Robin Baker
Lord Ashcroft Polls on Milliband’s EU Referendum Non-Pledge
vendredi, mars 21st, 2014Lord Ashcroft thinks (see link to his article below) that the Conservative party should not be misled by Labour leader Ed. Milliband’s recent non-pledge on an EU referendum, when his polling has found that:
« Tory voters are twice as likely as Labour voters, and UKIP voters three times as likely, to say that defending Britain?s interests in Europe is one of the most important issues facing the country. »
« By putting the referendum pledge at the front and centre of its 2015 campaign the Conservative Party would not only be missing the chance to talk about the things most voters care about more, like the economy, jobs and public services. It would also, as far as these voters are concerned, be proving again the out-of-touchness (outness of touch?) of which it has for so long been accused. That is the trap Ed Miliband has set for the Tories. Surely they won?t be so daft as to fall into it? »
British Citizens Abroad – Register to Vote!
vendredi, mars 14th, 2014Here is an important message for all British citizens resident abroad and not impacted by the 15-year-limit on their voting rights, from Greg Clark, Minister of State for Cities and the Constitution:
Register as an overseas voter!
This is important for both the European elections in 2014 (if you have not already registered where you are resident) and the next general election in 2015.
Marginal Constituencies Win Elections
lundi, février 24th, 2014Have a browse of the interactive BBC News link below.
It lists the marginal seats which could decide the next UK General Election in May 2015.
« government majorities are made or broken in the relatively small number of marginal seats with small majorities that change hands at elections ».
Comments on « UK votes for UK laws » & « Devolution to Cities » – by Robin Baker
mercredi, octobre 1st, 2014UK votes for UK Laws
Christopher Chantrey?s article is excellent, well written and clearly argued. I just have one problem with it; I am not convinced.
That is because of a particular feature of the United Kingdom, which has led to the current structure: its imbalance. The UK is not comparable to Canada where the four major provinces have 86% of the population. In the UK, 84% live in England alone. That led to concerns in the other countries that, with a government chosen by the English dominated parliament, they were being swamped and their interests overlooked. Hence the demand for their own parliaments or assemblies. For the same reason there is no such concern in England and hence no appetite for an English parliament. But there is concern about too much government and its cost, which is why I do not believe that the idea of an English parliament and, inevitably, a separate English government accountable to it, will every fly.
Also it would all take too long, because the West Lothian question must be resolved as and when further powers are devolved to Holyrood. Since devolution, so far some legislation on education in England has been passed only with the support of Scottish Labour MPs. That is unfair. English votes for English laws could solve that. But we will soon be in a new ball game. The Scots have been promised ?extensive new powers for the Scottish Parliament?. These will include powers relating to taxation. If the Scottish Parliament can vote on part of the taxes paid by the Scots, that means that the Westminster Parliament must vote separately on taxes paid by other UK citizens. To have such taxes passed only because of the support of Scottish MPs would not just be unfair, it would be intolerable. And since Milliband will not commit himself on this issue, I want to see the Conservative Party campaign not just on English votes for English laws but on English votes for English taxes. Then we will see how Milliband responds to the English electorate on that. Of course such a system would be a great disadvantage to the Labour party, but they should have thought of that before they introduced devolution in the first place.
All this has been considered by the Commission on the Consequences of Devolution for the House of Commons, set up in 2012 and chaired by Sir William McKay. It reported in March last year and its conclusions can be summarised by:
?Decisions at the United Kingdom level with a separate and distinct effect for England (or for England-and-Wales) should normally be taken only with the consent of a majority of MPs for constituencies in England (or England-and-Wales).
This principle should be adopted by a resolution of the House of Commons and the generalised principle endorsed.
The internal processes of the UK Government for preparing legislation should include separate consideration of the interests of England.
Devolution arrangements all contain legislative provisions which preserve the sovereignty of the UK Parliament. Similarly the principle contains flexibility to cover cases where the situation is not ?normal? and where the interests of the whole of the UK need to be given greater weight than the interests of one part of it. The right of the House of Commons as a whole to make the final decision should remain. But there should be political accountability for any departure from the norm.?
So the analysis and the thinking have been done, the report has been published, we now just need to implement it.
Devolution to Cities
Michael Webster makes a good argument for further devolution to local councils. That is an interesting case but a complicated one because it would raise the whole question of local government finance. I do not think that it could work with a tax system that is not based on ability to pay. Let?s have a discussion meeting about it.
Robin Baker
Tags:2015 Election, British politics, Devolution, Scottish Referendum
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