Author: croydonconstitutionalists

We spoke with Chris Scott when he ran in Horley in 2022.  Chris is running again in this years local elections and we were delighted to hear more on the party, and Chris’ campaign for Reigate and Banstead Council.

“Far too many unacademic A-Level students are being steered towards inappropriate, “soft” university courses instead of some form of apprenticeship. This leaves them with the prospect of repaying a large debt”

So what is our take on the current dysfunctional governance of the United Kingdom? Or should I say our DIS-United Kingdom and, seven years after the Referendum, our status of having achieved Brexit in name only? How many of the laws that Parliament enacted at the behest of the European Commission have been repealed? When I last heard, none. it seems that the Prime Minister, who claims to have voted to Leave without campaigning for it, is in the thrall of Tory MPs who are instinctive Remainers. An increasing majority of his cabinet voted Remain and, one suspects, pay merely lip-service to Brexit.

In more general, national terms, Reform UK advocates that:

1) Schools should never again be closed during a pandemic. Literacy and numeracy must be prioritised. Sport must be offered and encouraged. Pupils should not be encouraged to question their sex. If any child shows signs of gender dysphoria, the parents must be consulted. Far too many unacademic A-Level students are being steered towards inappropriate, “soft” university courses instead of some form of apprenticeship. This leaves them with the prospect of repaying a large debt unless they fail to earn well in their subsequent careers.

2) The NHS is systemically broken, however excellent are its clinicians. Due to failure to train enough of our own, we are poaching too many foreign clinicians that are trained and needed in their home countries. Too much money is being wasted. The terms of service of GPs are counterproductive for their patients. Major revisions are essential, even if they involve some form of insurance or means-tested contributions for consultations. Excessive delays for consultations or treatment should qualify patients to go private at NHS expense. 

3) On immigration, it is unacceptable that people arriving illegally with no personal documentation by hazardous, highly expensive crossings of the English Channel should all be treated by default as genuine asylum-seekers at taxpayers’ expense and parachuted in large groups into small communities nationwide.

“People earning little more than the national median wage are becoming subject to 40% tax. That is grotesque”

4) Major tax reform is essential. People on low incomes should not be paying income tax at all. People earning little more than the national median wage are becoming subject to 40% tax. That is grotesque, as are the thresholds for inheritance tax. People who paid tax on their earnings throughout their lifetime should be entitled to hand the residual funds and property down to their children without further taxation.

5)  “Net Zero” must be abandoned. It will ruin our economy and cause serious hardship, particularly to people on low-to-medium incomes – unlike the legislators who dreamed it up. Globally futile, it will be ignored by the major world polluters, such as China and India, whose economies will profit at our expense. Wind and solar could never reliably supply even half our needs, and their energy output is non-storable in the present state of technology. Likewise, the ban on production of internal-combustion-engine cars from 2030 is impracticable and must be abandoned before it’s too late. It would reveal the limitations of our national grid, and deplete the finite, worldwide resources of minerals needed to produce batteries that last less than ten years and are extremely expensive to replace. Decades of neglect on nuclear technology after our early international lead have denied us its ideal role in supplying the base load for electricity generation. Given that the variable excess demand cannot be supplied reliably by wind and solar, and hydrogen is not widely available in the foreseeable future, fossil-fuels remain an essential energy source. Further exploitation of North Sea gas and oil reserves must be considered, as well as fracking, which our present prime minister promised to do during his Tory leadership campaign as recently as last autumn.

6) HMG boasts its alleged spending of 2% of GDP, but the war in Ukraine has highlighted the latter’s inadequacy. Our three armed services are left in a parlous state. The Royal Navy has two large aircraft carriers that are short of aircraft and, perhaps even worse, suitable escort vessels. The Army headcount is at an all-time low. In the RAF, aircrew are not flying enough to maintain experience levels. All three services are, it seems, more concerned with diversity than excellence.

“There is a general slide in government towards a form of woke, defeatist, social-Marxism that will persist as long as the main parties at Westminster are ruling the roost in the UK”

7) There is a general slide in government towards a form of woke, defeatist, social-Marxism that will persist as long as the main parties at Westminster are ruling the roost in the UK. When elected, Reform UK MPs will challenge that damaging, conventional mindset.  

Of course, none of the above issues can be at the forefront of my local-election campaign in Horley Central & South. 

“Town centres must be reinvigorated with cuts in business rates, free car-parking, more residential accommodation and targeted investment. In Horley, too many small retailers have been priced out”

In addition to the issues I have raised on the front of my personal election leaflet (below), Reform UK proposes the following policies in local government.

(a) Local communities should have more say in their affairs than at present. A random example of that would be the recent overruling by HMG of Braintree Council’s attempt to stop so-called asylum-seekers being accommodated on the old aerodrome at Weathersfield to the detriment of the local community.

(b) Unnecessary local spending should be cut. Do lesbian, gay and bisexual residents really appreciate pedestrian crossings being repainted in rainbow colours?

(c) Town centres must be reinvigorated with cuts in business rates, free car-parking, more residential accommodation and targeted investment. In Horley, too many small retailers have been priced out. 

As a Reigate and Banstead district Councillor for Reform UK in Horley Central & South, I would make my own decisions on local policy initiatives without being subject to diktat from party HQ.

You can read our first interview with Chris at https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/chris-scott-reform-uk/.  You can also contact Chris at [email protected] and find out more about Reform UK and their policies via https://www.reformparty.uk/.