1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 General: the overall balance between the international role of the UK on\nthe one hand and the emphasis on a One Nation approach to \u201chealing\u201d the nation\n& the body politic is commendable<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00b7 Particular points we were happy to see included<\/p>\n\n\n\n
o The points-based immigration system<\/p>\n\n\n\n
o The \u201cNHS Long Term Plan\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
o The proposal to increase funding per pupil \u201cto ensure all children can\naccess a high quality education\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u00a7 Cf<\/em> we have recommended elsewhere that the cost of higher education\nputs an unconscionable burden on young people and invited policy makers to\nconsider how things are done in certain countries on the Continent such as\nFrance or Germany (not to suggest that those countries have perfect\nsystems: it is noteworthy however that in them there is a very broad\nconsensus in favour of distinctly modest\/virtually nominal tuition fees)<\/p>\n\n\n\n o The \u201cRenters\u2019 Reform Bill\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Again reference to what\nactually happens in France and Germany (legal regime, market conditions) would\nbe instructive<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 In France the renters may be over-protected: the system does\nhowever prevent much or most egregious abuses by landlords \u2013 of particular\nimportance given the unaffordability of housing for own home purchase for a\nvery large share of the (especially younger) part of the population<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 In Germany there is a massive private rental housing sector which\nprovides quality housing in attractive locations with protections for renters\ndesigned to allow them to make a choice in favour of longterm rentals<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Germans\u2019 appetite for such rentals is sometimes blamed for the\nsurprisingly low net worth of German private households<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 However again the point for\nthe UK situation is the inaccessibility of housing on the buy\/sell market and\nthus the need for remedial measures elsewhere<\/p>\n\n\n\n o The \u201cCounter Terrorism (Sentencing and Release) Bill\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Policy to invest in public services and infrastructure<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Cf budget\/national debt\npolicies<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 One might infer from the speech that tax increases somewhere will be\nnecessary to maintain the financial equilibrium called for therein<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Clarification in this area will be needed \u2013 politically and practically\n\u2013 in the near future<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Levelling up across regions<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Same comment as in\npreceding point re public finances<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 NB:<\/em><\/strong> this is not intended\nto convey the message that we are lukewarm on this \u201cNorthern Strategy\u201d policy \u2013\non the contrary!<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Reform business rates<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Consider constitutional issues raised by the Brexit \u201csaga\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 The role of the courts is a\nmajor question: does the UK wish to go the way of the US with \u201cgovernment\nby the judges\u201d across the board?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Hopefully not<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Fixed-term Parliaments\nAct: has proved problematical in practice and therefore deserves to be fundamentally\ncalled into question<\/p>\n\n\n\n o \u201cIntegrated Defence, Security and Foreign Policy Review\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 The state of the world as\nit is today calls for such a review: fundamental shifts are occurring on\nmany fronts and on many levels<\/p>\n\n\n\n 2.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 General: the thrust and most of the particular items in the speech\nwere well received<\/p>\n\n\n\n o A handful of items encountered minority questioning<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Particular items with majority reserves<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Increase local powers to tackle air pollution<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Problems<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Is the nature of such problems not inherently national (or wider) in\nscope (even if there may be local sources of pollution: these should be\naddressed in the larger context)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Even ignoring the first point: local authorities may lack the\ntechnical competence and\/or political will and\/or clout to effectively deal\nwith such issues<\/p>\n\n\n\n o \u201canimals as sentient beings\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 In agreement with the\nprinciple of avoiding cruelty to animals<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Cave<\/em>: avoiding providing succour to animal rights extremists<\/p>\n\n\n\n 3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 General comment: there were some omissions we deemed regrettable<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Particulars<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Some indications were given as to areas of infrastructure spending (eg\nwrt transport) however a bit more here would have been helpful<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Withdrawal from the European Convention on Human Rights?: or\nmeaningful threats at least to do the same (or suspend membership) to resist\nthe politicisation of that instrument and of the ECHR, and their surreptitious\npartial capture\/being subjected to influence by unrepresentative groups (cf<\/em> recent\nserious of articles in Valeurs Actuelles<\/em> on the subject; and\nthe general evolution of ECHR decisions in recent times)<\/p>\n\n\n\n o On foreign policy major issues: perhaps at least some general\nindication of the direction of travel on specific subjects might have been\nhelpful, eg<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 The recently presented US\npeace plan for Israel and Palestine<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Libya<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 China<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Etc<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 – taking care of course not\nto unduly tie the hands of the government for dealing with future circumstances<\/p>\n\n\n\n o \u201cvotes for life\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Re financial services: what is the aim wrt the future relationship\nwith UE\/27 in this area?<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Addressing the housing shortage: a \u201cmega issue\u201d in our view<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Cf<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Problems of social justice<\/p>\n\n\n\n o A major share of the population has \u201clucked into\u201d vast housing wealth\nthey never contemplated<\/p>\n\n\n\n o While another major share has \u201cun-lucked into\u201d a prospect of a lifelong\nhousing poverty (at least in relative terms) \u2013 regardless of hard work etc<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00b7 Imbalances created by new trends in financial flows worldwide\n\u201cdistorting\u201d or at least mightily impacting housing markets: why should\nthe government consider it appropriate to sit by passively and \u201clet the market\ndo its work\/worst\u201d? \u2198 Government\nhas a responsibility to address big issues arising out of such massive\ndisruption of economic flows and (im)balances<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Policy on GAFA et al<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u00a7 Including taxation<\/p>\n\n\n\n o Productivity levels in the UK \u2013 how to address the relatively poor\nperformance of the UK in recent decades as against eg France, Germany &\nmany other countries<\/p>\n\n\n\n Paul\nThomson<\/p>\n\n\n\n Vice\nChairman\/CPF Secretary<\/p>\n\n\n\n BCiP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" 1. \u00b7 General: the overall balance between the international role of the UK on the one hand and the emphasis on a One Nation approach to \u201chealing\u201d the nation & the body politic is commendable \u00b7 Particular points we were happy to see included o The points-based immigration system o The \u201cNHS Long Term Plan\u201d o The proposal to increase […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2690","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-chairmans-blog","category-welcome"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2690"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2692,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2690\/revisions\/2692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2690"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2690"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/conservatives-paris.org\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2690"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}