Policy

I have not produced a video on these subjects but I have instead given you my thoughts so you may better understand my principles. 

In this section, I will give readers the opportunity to ask questions and I will give my thoughts on other issues.

Below are my thoughts on:

Animal Welfare

We all need to eat, and I fully support our free choice to be a vegan, a vegetarian, or a meat-eating omnivore.  Animals are sentient beings and while I am uncomfortable with some intense factory farming techniques, I recognise that not everyone can afford expensive meat.

However, I draw the line over methods of slaughter and would support legislation to ban non-stun slaughter as I believe preventing unnecessary suffering to animals is more important than religious beliefs.  I would also want to see meat for sale labeled with the method of slaughter.

Animals that are bred for slaughter generally do not have a happy life, and so I would support a complete ban on the export of live animals for slaughter.

Brexit

It is now seven years since the EU referendum was held.  The options on the ballot paper were "Remain a member of the European Union" and "Leave the European Union"; there was no option to do a deal and partly remain under EU control.  It is my firm belief that we should have completely left the EU and then traded with the EU under the same terms that we trade with non-EU members.  Had we left the EU under WTO terms the tariffs received from EU exporters would have exceeded tariffs paid by UK exporters by £7 billion.  We were under no legal obligation under Article 50 to make a "divorce payment" that the Conservatives voluntarily agreed to.  We must execute the EU Referendum mandate and cleanly leave the EU.

Civil Service

The Civil Service effectively runs the country and as of March 2023, there were 488,400 FTE civil servants.  These civil servants do not add value, but they are a necessary cost to the economy and it is my opinion that we need a smaller Government, without QUANGOS (as staff should be subsumed into Government departments) with fewer civil servants giving us less bureaucracy.  Businesses typically drive to cut non-productive costs by 10% per annum, the Civil Service departments should be directed to do the same and they must follow the instructions from ministers, or else they should be dismissed for gross misconduct and without compensation.  The number of Civil Servants has risen by 25%, 100,000, since 2016; these numbers must be cut.

Defence

I support a strong defense capability from our armed forces and we have powerful aircraft carriers HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales, and modern Type 45 destroyers based nearby in Portsmouth.  We should continue to maintain and modernise our army, navy, and air force to counter potential future threats. 

We need far better management and control over Government defence contracts; the problems and delays in the Ajax contract must never happen again.   I am very concerned that the Conservatives spent £37 billion bounds on abortive Track and Trace, which is 75% of the 2023 defence budget and the equivalent to the cost of 10 HMS Queen Elizabeth aircraft carriers.  That £37 billion could have been far better spent. 

For the future, I support a minimum of 2.5% of GDP being spent on defence.  I call upon the continued reduction in our armed forces hardware and manpower to be immediately reversed.

Digital Currency

I am very nervous about the movement towards a Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC) as this would lead to absolute government control and knowledge of whatever we spend our money on; we would lose all privacy of our financial transactions. 

A CBDC could be used to: restrict alcohol purchases; restrict the type of food we buy; limit our spending on leisure activities; restrict how much energy we may buy; prevent fast food purchases if we are deemed unhealthy.  It could even be used to prevent movement by denying petrol/diesel or the use of EV chargers.  By putting transponders in cars, we could be automatically fined for minor traffic transgressions.  Already, through the use of Smart Meters, our properties may be cut off from energy sources remotely.

We must always be allowed to use our Pound Sterling,  and cash must be enshrined in legislation as being a valid payment method for all transactions, so I would oppose any plans for a CBDC.

Fox Hunting

I do not believe that it is acceptable to kill animals for sport in a cruel manner, and in particular when it causes unnecessary suffering.  Therefore, I am totally opposed to fox hunting and hare coursing and would like these sadistic activities banned.

I accept that there are instances where wild animals need to be culled, but when this is necessary, this must happen in a humane way and without undue suffering.

Freedom of Speech

I believe in Freedom of Speech and the right to express opinions that not everyone may agree with.  I also support the right to protest; however, I do not support the right to cause severe disruption as Just Stop Oil and Extinction Rebellion have done.  I believe that the Police should vigorously enforce the Highways Act 1980 s137 that states: " If a person, without lawful authority or excuse, in any way wilfully obstructs the free passage along a highway he is guilty of an offence and liable to a fine not exceeding £50".  I also believe that the general public should be free to use reasonable force to prevent such disruptive offences from being committed.

Government Waste

I have always believed that I should treat my employer's money or taxpayer's money as my own, so consequently I abhor waste.  We must remember that Government waste is taxpayer money that could have remained in our own pockets to spend as we wished.  Some examples of Government Waste are:

• £37 billion spent on Track and Trace, which never worked.
• £8.7 billion spend on unused and below-specification COVID PPE materials
• £3.5 billion spent on Bounce Back Loan fraud because of the lack of adequate loan application controls.
• £100 billion spent on HS2, for which no sound business case exists

In wastage incidents, I always say "follow the money".  Who has made millions out of contracts that were not competitively tended?  Government waste must be eliminated.

House of Lords

We do need a second House to review proposed government legislation, however, new members of the House of Lords (HoL) are appointed by Governments and these members will be those that support Government Policy. These Lords are for life.  I believe that members of the HoL should have their independent opinions and be representatives of the People.

I would like to see the current members of the HoL stand down and with new members appointed via proportional representation such that the House represents all the people in the UK. Membership of the second chamber should be for a defined period of time to allow new members to be elected to keep the opinions of the HoL up to date with national opinion.

Pensions

In my earlier working years, Defined Benefit (DB) Schemes were common with employers paying a pension linked to final salary and for which employers took the investment risk.  These pensions were fully funded and helped avoid the Government funding benefits for pensioners with limited means.  However, successive Labour and Conservative governments have sought to "steal" pensioner benefits by limiting tax relief and taxing pension funds.  Labour's Gordon Brown is credited with raiding pension funds of £230 billion.

Consequently, employers could no longer afford the extra loss of tax benefits and most DB Schemes have been closed and employees migrated to Defined Contribution (DC) Schemes which are less generous and where employees take the investment risk.  The exceptions are the State Pension and Public Sector pensions are paid out from general taxation receipts without there being an investment fund to support future liabilities.  This is a Government Ponzi Scheme.

The problem we have is 30 million workers supporting 10 million pensioners.  What I believe we need is a Sovereign Wealth Fund into which pension contributions are made for eventual withdrawal on retirement.  People starting work now should not be compelled to pay the pensions of those retiring now.

Taxation

The principles of good taxation were formulated many years ago.  In The Wealth of Nations (1776), Adam Smith argued that taxation should follow the four principles of fairness, certainty, convenience, and efficiency. In addition, I believe tax legislation should be clear and stable, hence I fundamentally disagree with tax legislation changing every few years as is the case for the tax on motor vehicles and pensions.

I believe that Income tax must be made far simpler with most allowances and exemptions scrapped.  I believe VAT should be scrapped with us reverting to Purchase Tax.  I believe Inheritance Tax should be scrapped as it is iniquitous and is double taxation.  I abhor the Green Levies that make our energy more expensive; all subsidies for "green" energy generation should be discontinued and so save the consumers and businesses money.

By simplifying the tax structure and collecting tax in a fair, certain, convenient, and efficient manner, we could afford to increase the personal allowance to £20,000 to give people more money in their pockets and encourage growth.

Trans Athletes

Let me be very clear.  Sex and Gender are NOT "assigned at birth"; your sex is determined by your chromosomes.  A female will have 2 X chromosomes and a male will have one X and one Y chromosome.  Your "gender" is the same as your "sex".  I have no issue with males being sexually attracted to males or females being sexually attracted to females.  Likewise, I have no issue with males or females dressing up as the opposite sex/gender.  If over-21s wish to have medical procedures to change the appearance of their sex/gender, then that is their choice, but I do not believe drugs and medical procedures should be applied to under-21s, and then only privately (and not on the NHS) with the appropriate safeguards.

However, whatever drugs you take and whatever medical procedures you have, your sex/gender, based on your chromosomes will never change, and so I believe that the biological sex/gender observed at birth should determine whether you participate in male or female sports.

Ukraine

Ukraine, as part of the former Soviet bloc, and has served as a useful buffer zone between NATO and Russia.  However, with Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and other ex-Soviet bloc countries joining NATO, it should not be surprising for Russia to feel threatened by moves for Ukraine to also join NATO.  The West has become weak and liberal and Biden's weakness may have inspired Putin to extend his annexation of Crimea to further areas on Ukraine.

While I naturally condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the terrible loss of life, I do feel that the US and the West have contributed to Putin's decision to invade and so protect Russian territory.  After All, JF Kennedy would not allow Khrushchev to place ballistic missiles in Cuba, so why should Russia allow NATO to place ballistic missiles in neighbouring countries to Russia?

Voter ID and Voting

Being able to vote secretly in elections is a privilege and essential in our democratic society and so I fully support the requirement for Voter ID in both local and general elections.  It is too easy to manipulate postal votes and so I would support a significant tightening up of postal votes for them only to be available to those who cannot reach their Polling Station.  My view is that if a political party is worth voting for, it is worth going to a polling station to cast your vote, and hopefully for me or Reform UK.

Welfare

Many of us will fall on hard times during our lives and I fully support the UK's welfare safety net for those in need.  However, we must not allow welfare to become a lifestyle choice.

The average annual salary for full-time employees was £33,280 in April 2022 whereas the maximum value of Universal Credit is £22,020 per annum.  In April 2023, 1.3 million people were unemployed, however, in February 2023, there were 1.1 million job vacancies in the UK.  These statistics suggest to me that either unemployed people do not have the appropriate skill level, or alternatively, a lifestyle choice has been made to stay on welfare because the design of the current system means that going to work does not pay.

Going to work must be made financially worthwhile.  I would like to see training provided to up-skill the unemployed who wish to train for a better and more rewarding job.  I would also like to see those receiving unemployment benefit performing work in the community, while looking for work, as payback for unemployment and Universal Credit payments.  We must continue to provide a safety net for those in need, but deter benefits from being chosen as a lifestyle choice.

Your Questions

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