Great Repeal Act and New Tory Labour
When I started writing at NLE, I wasn’t a member of any particular party; I was fairly disillusioned with the whole process of party politics generally and partizan sniping as a specific. Far too often, politics and politicians seemed to be about what you were opposed to, not what you were in favour of. The more I wrote, and read the thoughts and opinions of others, the more my views and opinions were refined.
Eventually, after the tipping point last February, and then the Lib Dem leadership election, I joined the Liberal Democrats. I said at the time that I would continue to write in the same way; yes, I’m a party member, that doesn’t make me a partizan sniper, there remain issues I disagree with the party line on, and issues that I like either the Tory or the Govt line. And, of course, issues that I dislike all three main parties on.
What has cheered me this week was the way the Liberal Democrats really seem to have got their act together. Despite the attempted media narrative of splits, division, popular CK and unsupported Ming, likely failure on tax policy, etc, reports in seem to show that the conference went rather well. The much anticipated (in the media) tax vote was in fact passed by a 2:1 majority, in a party renowned for it’s democratic, bottom up instincts. Then, of course, there was Nick Clegg’s idea. It, um, looked a little familiar to me.
What would you do if you were elected to office? What would you do if you were made Prime Minister? Well, if it were me, I’d first pass a single Act repealing all those crappy laws that Labour has passed for no purpose. I was going to call it the Rollback Act. Close enough:
Great Repeal Act
Works for me. So many stupid, pointless laws. National Identity Register, the SOCPA restrictions, etc. Let’s get rid of the lot?
It’s still an oppositional act, but somehow, it seems more. It’s something to be in favour of, it’s an act in favour of liberty and the rule of law, not the rules of laws.
Meh. Partizan silliness can, at times, be fun though, especially when it has the distinctive Tim Ireland bent. We present, the New Tory Labour party: Climate Change.
The Great Repeal Act/Rollback Act is, of course, essential if we are to return to any sanity in this country.
While we were about it we’d need to assess each of the 111,000 or so impeding regulations that have been foisted on the UK during our 30 odd years in the Common Market/EEC/EU.
Unfortunately what you seem to have failed to realise (and Ming & co. have failed to tell you) is that any such act would be impossible while we remain controlled by Brussels.
ID cards were not Tony’s plan - he is just an obedient servant - just take a look at the directives, statements etc. from Brussels that have led to it.
At least 70% of our laws are made (directly) in Brussels - most of the rest are agreed there behind closed doors (meetings of Commissioners, the Council of Ministers, senior Euro civil servants, etc. are all run by Chatham House rules - no minutes and no accountability) and then implemented as if local initiatives.
Wake up, take the sleep from your eyes and realise that a few things:
1. Having a Lib Dem government (even if it were likely) would make no difference at all - just like it will make no difference when Labour get booted out at the next election and the Tories are given a slot. It is all just so much play-acting - to give the electorate the illusion that they still have a choice.
The party machine has effectively removed the electorate’s choice by providing no effective difference between the three parties: they are marching so closely in step that there is no effective opposition.
And no, I’m not suggesting that you should have joined UKIP. Any canny observer would have noticed that since Farage was elected leader, the Beeb and the media generally seem to have done a U-turn on their EU-sceptic block - specially for him.
There are two related reasons for this; one: the true situation is finally beginning to dawn on more and more of the electorate - there are over 60 different national Euro sceptic organisations and pressure groups (many of which have been subverted by installing key people who are communists/socialists). UKIP - just like many of the others - is now an establishment safety valve - somewhere for genuine democrats/sovereigntists to dump all their excess energy all to no avail. Two: nobody is permitted to get into a position of (apparent) power unless the real power-mongers have something on him, in case he steps out of line. They have plenty on Farage.
2. Whichever party is elected to Westminster will soon be 100% irrelevant, because 100% of our laws will soon be made for us by Brussels and simply rubber-stamped by Westminster - just as 70% to 80% are today!
3. If you are really serious that “democracy matters” you need to realise that the EU is not a democracy. Although we elect MEPs the EU Parl has no power to propose or change laws. All it can do is to ‘debate’ (if you can call a 90 second limit per law per MEP, “debate”)the laws sent to it by the vast body of Euro civil servants who drive the Commission. Even then, if it doesn’t like them (as has happened a few times), the law will soon be agreed to because the procedure is to then BYPASS the parliament via a conciliation committee of Commissioners and (hand picked) MEPs.
The only real power the EU Parl has is to dump the whole Commission - as has happened once - but since the Commission is largely a front, too, this makes little difference to the anonymous Eurocrats who make all the (controlled) decisions and draft all the new laws and regulations.
The EU has the Constitution of a dictatorship. Not even in the USSR did they manage to pass laws making the whole government and all its tentacles above the law. The EU has done this (in its Constitution) before it has even gained total authority! Read it if you don’t believe me - the whole Commission, Council of Ministers, EU Parliament, Euro Civil Service, Europol, etc., etc. - anyone working for the EU governmental machinery is immune from prosecution for ANYTHING they do in the course of their duty!
4. Even if the Lib Dems did ever get into power, THEY NO LONGER REPRESENT TRADITIONAL LIBERAL VALUES: just as New Labour is no longer a true labour party and New Blu is no longer a true conservative party (that’s blindingly obvious if you look at the speed of Cameron’s massive Tory policy U-turns). In fact, the Lib Dems - by being the most committed to European integration - are THE MOST anti-liberal party of the three - corporatist/globalist/totalitarian.
This is one thing about which Nigel Farage is absolutely right - All three parties are marching in step: “You can’t put a cigarette paper between them.” The thing he hasn’t told you is that he is running hard to catch up with the squad!
What’s the answer? E-mail me and I’ll tell you.
Comment by Walter Simms | December 18, 2006