Bringing Classical Liberalism to South London
With a late change of venue following the suddenly closure of the Milan Bar due to sewage problems, the Leavers of Croydon drinks didn’t get off to the best start.
However we rearranged at the last minute for The George and had a great evening cramped in and looking forward to the 31st…..
Thanks all who joined us. Sorry to anyone we couldn’t get the message out to on the venue change.
Email [email protected] to ensure we can keep you posted on future events.
We visit The Pembroke in Coulsdon to discuss Mike’s recent article on ways to reduce government debt.
Full article can be found here: https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/how-to-shrink-government/
YouTube:
Croydon Councillor Jeet Bains stood in the arguably safe Labour seat of Luton North in the recent General Election. He first became a councillor in 2010 in the then Coulsdon West ward. In 2018 he campaigned in Addiscombe East and split the ward with Labour’s Councillor Maddie Henson winning the other seat, a somewhat surprising result written about in ConservativeHome.
Jeet thank-you for your time..
How did you find it being a Parliamentary rather council candidate, what were the big differences?
It was an honour to be the Conservative Parliamentary candidate for Luton North. I absolutely loved it, so much so that I felt this is what I was born to do – not a feeling one often gets. For me, every minute was a joy. Whether it was pounding the streets for hours on end delivering leaflets, talking to people outside shops, being praised, receiving abuse, answering questions on radio stations, debating at hustings, going to different places of worship and community centres – I thoroughly enjoyed it. I made good friends – some stayed by my side day-in and day-out. There were the Sikh businessmen, the Kashmiri radio hosts, the Irish construction guys, the Afro-Caribbean church community…innumerable and wonderful community members. It is an experience like no other. I’ve been thinking about why I liked it so much. My wife says it’s because I like being the centre of attention…
As a council candidate, the issues are obviously very local – streets, planning, bins etc. Many people do, however, vote according to the national picture even in a local council election. In fact we come across many people who aren’t aware that the local council is controlled by Labour – they just assume that, because the Conservatives are in power nationally, that the Conservatives therefore run the council too.
Running for Parliament is different. I found that people are much more engaged and passionate. The issues are also on a wider scale: I received questions about nuclear disarmament, abortion, euthanasia, the environment, and the NHS. I also attended several hustings, community meetings and was interviewed by local and BBC Radio.
In short, running for Parliament is more intense, and I enjoyed this.
“Throughout the campaign, I felt that in this election the electorate had a clear choice between a Marxist agenda from Labour and an economy-boosting agenda from the Conservatives”
What led to you being a candidate in Luton North? What were the big issues in the area?
To stand for Parliament in the Conservative Party, you must be an approved candidate. Being one, I was asked to stand in Luton North.
Luton suffers from higher than average poverty levels, and so for me an emphasis on improving the economy and generating jobs was important. I made the case that getting more companies and government departments/agencies to locate in Luton would create more jobs. This would lead to people having more money in their pockets and feeling better about their lives, and there would be a beneficial effect for the local economy. This was in contrast to my Labour opponent who emphasised public spending and advocated scrapping Universal Credit. Throughout the campaign, I felt that in this election the electorate had a clear choice between a Marxist agenda from Labour and an economy-boosting agenda from the Conservatives. This was quite different to recent elections in which people would complain that there wasn’t much difference between the parties.
Housing was another big issue in Luton, as more people are coming to locate there from other areas. The experience I have of dealing with this issue in Croydon was very useful. People also felt that they were waiting too long for GP appointments, so this was an area on which I was particularly committing to focus.
We’re sure you’re pleased with the overall election result. What do you hope to see the government deliver on?
It was a great night for the Conservatives. The Great British Public utterly rejected Corbyn and his hard Left agenda and, frankly, saved the country. I met people who aren’t usually very interested in politics but, on this occasion, were quite appalled at the prospect of Corbyn in No. 10. The Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has committed to getting Brexit done, levelling up investment across the nation, and investing much more in health and education. I think this is absolutely right, and I know the government will deliver.
More broadly, the country now has that great benefit of the first-past-the-post system, viz. a clear majority. Gone is the previous deadlock in Parliament, and with it the endless gloom propagated by those that refused to accept the result of the referendum. There is an air of positivity and energy to get things done. I think we will see quite a transformation in the country. In particular, I think there is a permanent shift of political loyalties that has occurred, for example in many northern constituencies. I worry, however, about how it is that some of our younger generation have been convinced that the solutions to their very valid concerns lie in Marxism. I hope the government gives attention to re-making the case for capitalism.
You used to represent Coulsdon West and are now in Addiscombe East. What are the similarities and differences between the two wards?
Coulsdon West was larger, with the usual three councillors representing the ward. Addiscombe East is smaller and thus has two councillors. It’s interesting that in Coulsdon West there was just one Residents’ Association for the whole ward, which is quite normal, whereas in Addiscombe East we are blessed with four!
In Coulsdon West there are family homes in the main, and the issues I dealt with there were chiefly around planning, building control, and traffic and parking in Coulsdon Town. I was also involved in the Cane Hill development – a fine example of Conservatives providing housing of various kinds, in contrast to the Labour council policy of wantonly permitting highly inappropriate developments in existing streets.
Addiscombe East has a greater variety of housing and, I guess with it being a marginal ward and in the Croydon Central parliamentary constituency, the politics is a little more intense. A long running issue, and quite jarring to local residents, has been traffic flows on local streets. An historic decision to make certain roads one way in neighbouring Addiscombe West has resulted in a wholly unequal distribution of traffic on neighbouring roads. In essence, Elgin Road is now flooded with traffic night and day, whereas the residents of Canning Road in Addiscombe West benefit from hearing the birds chirping and their children playing safely in the street. All sensible people agree that this is an anomaly, but the fact that Labour control the Council and all the councillors in Addiscombe West are Labour has nothing at all to do with this sad problem remaining unresolved.
“in Addiscombe East. We focus on helping and making a difference to local residents rather than fighting over our political differences. I think local people quite like this arrangement”
Addiscombe East is the Boroughs only split ward. How do you find representing an area with a Councillor of a different party?
It actually works well. I get on well with Maddie Henson, the Labour councillor here, and we keep things friendly and cordial. I have heard that in the past where there has been a split ward, the councillors from different political parties barely spoke to one another. It’s not like that in Addiscombe East. We focus on helping and making a difference to local residents rather than fighting over our political differences. I think local people quite like this arrangement.
What are your thoughts more generally on Croydon politics?
Croydon is a great town with huge potential. I think Croydon has been let down by the Labour-run council. The town centre has declined, major employers have left, Westfield is nowhere to be seen, and Labour have a quite deliberate policy of allowing highly unsuitable residential developments (mostly small flats) in the middle of streets with family homes. Everyone was hoping for some positive news from the redevelopment of Fairfield Halls, but even that looks to have been botched, and there are complaints arising about where and how the money has been spent.
All of this means that there is a lot for politicians to address. The case needs to be made to local people on which party can best solve these problems. My focus would be on attracting employers to Croydon, providing jobs to people so that they feel responsible and can look after their families. I also want to see a relentless focus on improving the standard of our schools, so that our children have the springboard for getting good jobs.
I think a directly elected mayor could make difference, because the Council is patently failing. Let’s take a tangible example. The government announced a £28.8bn National Roads Fund and an increase to the National Productivity Investment Fund so that it totals £37 billion. I’m not aware that either the Croydon North MP or the Croydon Central MP have made any efforts to have some of these funds come to Croydon. In contrast, Chris Philp, the Croydon South MP, has made herculean efforts in, for instance, getting funding allocated to improve the Brighton-London rail line so that Croydon passengers benefit. This is the kind of thing that a directly elected mayor can really boost.
“We have a great tradition of being free to hear all sides of an argument make their cases robustly, and we shouldn’t lose this. Shouting that the end is nigh is, I suggest, counter-productive”
On Twitter you have expressed some concern with the doom mongering of the environmental lobby. What sensible action do you think we should be taking on the environment?
I think that people don’t respond well to doom mongering, and there is an adverse reaction to endless lectures. At the same time, most people want to do the right thing and be environmentally friendly. If we look at how the world came together to tackle the ozone layer issue, that is an excellent example of how people made conscious buying decisions which stopped the ozone layer being damaged. Similarly, the government’s measures on charging for plastic bags in shops and the ban on the sale of products containing microbeads are measures that make a real difference. The government has also committed to achieving net zero carbon emissions by 2050. That may seem a long way off but it is realistic and achievable. In contrast Labour was talking about reaching net zero by 2030 – something that even the GMB union refused to support.
I think the key is to be realistic and help people to do the right thing – because, most of the time, they want to. I also think we’re not hearing serious dissenting voices, such as Lord Matt Ridley who presents data and questions some of the conclusions that we are asked to accept. We have a great tradition of being free to hear all sides of an argument make their cases robustly, and we shouldn’t lose this. Shouting that the end is nigh is, I suggest, counter-productive. Also, walking along the top of tube trains in Canning Town is probably best avoided.
Any other thoughts you would like to leave us with?
Politics is important and (as apparently Charles de Gaul said) it’s too important to be left to the politicians. I’m encouraged by the increasing engagement in politics by young people. It doesn’t matter which party you join or what your cause is, it’s good to be involved in matters that affect you and your community. I am worried, however, that someone who was utterly unfit to be Prime Minister was one step away from achieving it. It is important that we look at how it is that the hard Left ideology, long ago rejected as damaging to society, has reared its ugly head again.
Finally, a word about social media. Its ability to amplify and to distort is something that we are just beginning to understand. Our greatest minds will need to be brought together to wrestle with this problem. Anonymous accounts, fake news, false utterances with no consequence – freedom and liberty need armour against them.
Jeet can be found on twitter at @Jeet__Bains.
EU trade commissioner Phil Hogan has claimed that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will go back on his promise not to further extend the so called Brexit transition period.
Sputnik spoke with Michael Swadling from the Croydon Constitutionalists to get his views on the matter.
“the EU is frankly the past and maybe it just doesn’t know it yet”
“the UK will want to prove economically the huge benefit of trading with the part of the world that’s working and growing, which is basically everywhere other than the EU, rather than being tied to the part of the world that has stagnated for a decade and that is the EU”
Full article at https://sputniknews.com/analysis/201912311077910300-boris-johnson-wont-extend-brexit-transition-period–political-commentator/.
Audio below:
During the general election we interviewed local pro-Brexit candidates. Following on from this we asked the candidates how they found the election and for any thoughts they had from the campaign.
Below is the update written by Councillor Mario Creatura the Conservative Party candidate for Croydon Central. Mario’s original interview is available here.
In December 2018 I was lucky enough to be chosen to be the Conservative candidate for Croydon Central. At the election on 12th December, 21,175 people in my hometown chose to put their faith in me – I am sorry that it was not enough, but I will be forever grateful to every one of them.
It’s been an incredible year. Over the campaign my team and I have spoken to many thousands and ran a positive, energetic campaign. We highlighted vital local issues, like Labour’s plans to build on the green belt and their wanton destruction of community identities, as well as fighting to respect the result of the Brexit referendum and shining a spotlight on Labour’s illiterate economic policies. I am truly proud of the way my party behaved during the campaign.
Across the UK so many unbelievably talented Conservative friends have been elected – particularly those from blue collar backgrounds breaking through the so-called ‘red wall’ in the Midlands and the North of England. Our Parliament is lucky to have each and every one of them. It was the greatest result for the Conservatives since 1983, and the worst performance by Labour since 1935. We now have five years of stable national government, one that means we can finally get Brexit done and move on with our lives.
“Chris Philp’s majority went up in Croydon South, a testament to his incredible work ethic and stamina. Steve Reed’s majority was slashed by a massive 8,000 votes. The start of a worrying trend for Labour in London?”
In Croydon, it’s well worth looking at the results of the two ‘safe seats’. Chris Philp’s majority went up in Croydon South, a testament to his incredible work ethic and stamina. Steve Reed’s majority was slashed by a massive 8,000 votes. The start of a worrying trend for Labour in London? If I were Croydon Labour, I would be very concerned about what this means on a local level for the 2022 Council elections.
For every candidate standing for election there are dozens, if not hundreds of passionate party volunteers helping our democracy to function. Every leaflet delivered, every street pounded and door knocked – it’s a huge team effort and they are all doing it out of love for their party, community and country. It takes a lot, particularly in the cold winter months, to forgo spending time with your loved ones and to instead pull on a waterproof and try to campaign in an election. I’m grateful to each and every one of them.
“There are 81,000 electors in Croydon Central alone – so it takes years to get around everyone once, which is why it feels like you only see us at election time”
One thing all political campaigners will hear on the doorsteps repeated time and time and again: “we only see you out at election time”. It’s one of the most frustrating things to be accused of – of not caring about our community enough to be out all the time, not least because it’s just not true! There are some 47,000 properties in Croydon Central. If a single volunteer can knock on 100 doors in a given canvassing session, around 2/3s of people will be out. Which means each activist might get to speak to 30 people a week. There are 81,000 electors in Croydon Central alone – so it takes years to get around everyone once, which is why it feels like you only see us at election time.
So here’s my plea to everyone reading this: if you are upset by the result of the election in Croydon, if you want to get Labour out of Croydon Town Hall in 2022, then don’t sit at home complaining – get involved with the Croydon Conservatives and help us do something about it. We need good people to stand to be local councillors. We need talented locals to help us build a machine to take the fight to Labour over the next few years. We need bright, passionate members of our community to get stuck in any number of different roles and activities.
If you would like to find out more, then get in touch by emailing [email protected] and I’d be happy to meet to explain more about what it might involved – there’s something for everyone!
Croydon is my home town. It’s where I was born and where I live with my wife. I’m still a serving councillor and I’m not going anywhere. Croydon has so much potential just waiting to be unleashed – get in touch and let’s make it happen!
In a fascinating interview we talk to Tim about the music, why he wanted us to leave the EU, and being a Brexiteer whilst working as a musician.
Thanks to Tim Duce for our intro and outro music.
https://timduce.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/timduceofficial/
YouTube:
Join us for our first drinks of 2020, and let’s celebrate getting Brexit done.
Thursday 16th January from 7pm. Downstairs at the Milan Bar in Croydon 14–32 High Street, Croydon, London, CR0 1YA.
Leavers of Britain post https://leaversofbritain.co.uk/events/leavers-of-croydon-drinks-2/
Author: Michael Swadling
During the general election campaign all parties seemed to have limitless spending commitments. Labour and the Green Party truly believed that there was a magic money tree, but the Conservatives were little better. No one with the notable exception of the few Libertarian Party candidates seriously spoke about shrinking government.
There are no votes in shrinking the scope of the NHS, or reducing spending on Education. With an ageing population it is unlikely any government could or would want to do anything other than continue to escalate spending on Health and Social Services.
There are however many areas of government where spending could be reduced. There are similarly many areas where simply reducing the rules and schemes of government could result in better outcomes, and less impact from the bureaucracy on peoples everyday lives.
I believe Boris Johnson is in his heart a small government man, senior ministers like Sajid Jarvid, Priti Patel and Jacob Rees-Mogg are likewise. There must be scope to reduce some of the pettiness of government and some of its costs with it.
Here a few suggestions, that I believe are politically viable, and would fulfil one or more of;
They like to find little ways to improve our lives. Here’s an idea, don’t.
Whether it’s action on plastic straws, free plastic bags, smoking almost anywhere, alcohol minimum unit pricing or fracking, government departments like to ban things. They like to find little ways to improve our lives. Here’s an idea, don’t.
In addition to the infringement on freedom, each new bright idea, has press releases, memos, new teams, updates to manuals, revised instructions etc. etc. etc. All of which could be simply removed. This is quite apart from all the time, effort and money put into the ideas that don’t get approved.
How could you make this happen? A simply dictate that any government rule change that banned something would need to be approved at full cabinet. Suddenly all such ideas, would need a killer argument so strong all cabinet members and the Prime Minister would be prepared to sign-up to them. That should dramatically reduce the number of new bans. Cost savings may be minimal as staff are moved to other activities, but this might end up with the ‘crazy thought’ of top civil servants focused on their core role rather than generating the next bright idea.
Road safety is Britain is great in fact we’re rated number 4 for lack of road traffic deaths. Everyone knows accidents at 20mph cause less harm than at 30mph, but there is little evidence that 20mph zones improve safety. Councils up and down the country have rolled out this policy. With some evidence these traffic measures cause accidents some councils are now looking to remove the speed limits. Huge amounts of money spent, making lives more complicated, infringing drivers, cluttering our roads, introducing a rule that wasn’t enforced, all the while not even making us safer.
Imagine if this funding and the transport experts working on the changes, had instead been put into making traffic blackspots safer, or easing traffic congestion.
What business of your is it what I as an able minded adult do with or put into my own body? If it’s not your business what business is it of government?
What business of your is it what I as an able minded adult do with or put into my own body? If it’s not your business what business is it of government? Government does need to control for externalities, but what I do to myself, if we live in any sort of free society, must surely be up to me.
Almost as bad as the loss of freedom is the idea doesn’t even work. People simply consume more product to get the meet the same sugar craving their body has. It’s also regressive, the poorest households being proportionally taxed the most as food spending is a higher part of their outgoings.
Another government team we can simply scrap, when we stop the government telling us how to live.
Via the Public Works Load Board local councils are being allowed to borrow vast sums of money at currently low interest rates. This has in turn encouraged some councils to act as property speculators undertaking some ‘nationalisation’ by the back door in their own area. In Croydon this has resulted in the council owning the freehold to the Croydon Park Hotel and Colonnades Retail Park on the Purley way. Over £80 million was spent on these two purchases. £80 million representing about half of the £167.4 million of Council Tax raised by Croydon 2018/19.
There are large numbers of staff at council offices up and down the country looking at these purchases. Arranging the loans, working with the leaseholders, renters, and users of the facilities they purchase. We’re funding them via our taxes. Worse we are passing the local and national debt (the Public Works Load Board gets funded, like much of the UK government by borrowing) to our children’s, grandchildren and great grandchildren’s generations.
Right now, these schemes do appear to work. The borrowing is cheap, the rents high, and the surplus can fund services, but what if one of these factors were to change. What if property values went down as they did in the early 90s, or interest rates hit the sustained levels of the 70s or 80s? What if your council invested in the wrong part of town? How quickly can a good deal go bad, it’s not like government has a great track record on pretending to be a business. If it was truly easy to make money this way we all would.
Cut this massive risk from the councils books, make them focus on their core role, and raise taxes in the form of business rates from the private investments and risk of others, not by councillors gambling your money (in fact borrowing money in your name to gamble) at the property casino.
Pupil premium, Sport Premium, Teachers Pay Grant and Teachers Pension Pay Grant are just some of the unnecessary funding streams for schools. It’s not that that funds aren’t needed or well used, it’s that the whole teams or departments of people who create, manage and handout these funding streams aren’t needed. Ultimately money is fungible, all these funds just go into the same big pot.
In my experience, each year the overall totals tend to be the same as the previous year plus inflation. They just find a new way to make up the same income cake each year, justifying the bureaucracy. Schools are already judged on outcomes by their local councils, in exam results and by Ofsted. We don’t need separate funding streams for every bright idea from government, simply add the money to the main funding pool, and make schools accountable for the outcomes (as they already are). In the process whole departments can go and schools will have clearer funding streams and not find they are awaiting the latest special ‘premium’.
If you’re self-employed chances are you have a directors or personal pension. Even most company pensions operate the same way based on money purchased. You save over the years, at the end of that period you have a pension pot, which will be used to buy an annuity and pay out your pension. This ultimately is the only fair way to run a pension scheme, it ensures your savings are paying for your pension, and not creating a liability for future generations.
We need to move all new employees of the civil service and local government to these schemes immediately. Existing pension funds are in place and past contributions must be honoured. Existing employees should probably move to such a scheme for future contributions, but for now, for simplicity have all new employees added to money purchase schemes. In the short term this could be more expensive as contributions would likely be more than to the current schemes, but they would be honest.
Assuming people work up to 50 years, in 25 years the government pension deficit problem will be at least 50% gone and in 50 years completely gone, that’s a good start. Government would stop racking up undisclosed pension debt, and burdening the future.
Please get in touch with the author if you currently borrow money to give to charity. I don’t expect to be inundated with responses.
0.7% of Gross National Income or £14.5 billion is spent on overseas aid. With a government deficit of £41.5 billion in the financial year ending March 2019, equivalent to 1.9% of GDP this is all borrowed money. That’s money we are indebting future generations with to pay to overseas projects today. Please get in touch with the author if you currently borrow money to give to charity. I don’t expect to be inundated with responses. No sensible person borrows money to give to charity why should government on our behalf? We know this fixed level has seen end of year trolly dash spending from the department for overseas aid, and some interesting projects like the Ethiopian Spice Girls.
Until such time as the government is in surplus lets pair down this function. The cash level could stay fixed for a few years whilst existing spending commitments run off. After that keep to true emergency funding, and let private charity take care if the rest. Immediately we should abolish the department, and merge it back into the main foreign office, lose a ministers salary (or part of it at least). No doubt a support team could go, reclaim some office space, get rid of a press team, and comms team, stop buying department stationary etc. I’m sure the government should find some backbencher in a marginal seat with limited likelihood of promotion, and offer them a seat in the House of Lords if they can close the department down in 6 months.
What do government departments do? What is the purpose of them? Are they delivering it?? All government departments should publish KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) of what they do and how well they are doing it. The down side is more effort will be spent collecting stats, but even more, far more effort could be redirected. If anyone in a department can’t map their job to the delivery of a KPI, in all likelihood they simply don’t need to be there. Any department not meeting its KPIs should be prohibited from bring forward new ‘bright’ ideas. Whole teams of civil servants could become dedicated to ensuring the depart does what it should do, not whatever takes their fancy.
Britain owed £1,821.9 billion in the financial year ending March 2019, That’s over £27,000 for every person in Britain. Let’s start repaying it.
Let’s start a plan to repay government debt. Britain owed £1,821.9 billion in the financial year ending March 2019, That’s over £27,000 for every person in Britain. Let’s start repaying it. Let’s start a plan, maybe a Just Giving page, a commendation for people who give part of their estate to repay the debt, maybe the income from fracking, maybe ringfence part of an existing tax. As soon as we start repaying the debt, it would make little sense to keep borrowing, this might encourage government to live within its means. It would be easier to ask a politician why they are borrowing money if we are also trying to repay the debt.
Norway as a sovereign wealth fund worth a Trillion pounds, the Hong Kong and Kuwait both over £500 billion. We might not be able to do that yet, but let’s at least start to stop the rot, and make government live to a budget like most of us do.
Few people believe the civil service couldn’t cope with less staff. How about 20% less, a number I’m happy to admit I plucked out of thin air, but having undertaken many work restructures not impossible. Through automation and new working practices, I suspect they could cope with that reduction. How do we do it? Simple, for every 5 people that leave only recruit 4, this will take some time to fully implement, but no worries it could become a permanent feature of civil service life for 20 years. It would certainly make them think about rationalisation. Each department of government can organise what roles are replaced and which aren’t. I suspect we would quickly start to see fewer, communications teams, and diversity advisors and more people to do the actual work.
Nurses now all need degrees, with some evidence that bedside care has diminished as a result. From 2020 all new Police Officers need degrees. I’m personally not sure if in the event of an altercation you need a Police Officer who knows the theory of altercations or a Officer who is willing to get stuck in.
Most government roles require more qualifications than I and most people have, this can be true for even entry level roles. Cleary someone whose job it is to advise on nuclear reactors needs to know some, nuclear physics, but do most need degrees or even A levels? I didn’t and don’t have, yet am not alone in making my way in the world, without these.
It seems reasonable that government roles are open to new joiners at about the same percentage of level of qualifications as the population as a whole. This would almost certainly be cheaper that what we have today and create good opportunities for large numbers of today’s school leavers.
Get rid of the separate paid governors, and executive boards, their own logos, their own stationary, own comms and press teams.
Many governments have tried and failed to undertake a ‘bonfire of the quangos’. Many quangos such as Ofsted perform really important roles. No one wants to lose their job or position, and this makes it incredibly difficult to close any of these organisations down.
Then don’t, just move the accountability for them and the function, back to where it belongs in a government department. Close down the “quasi-autonomous” nature of these organisations after all we pay for them and they should be accountable to us. Get rid of the separate paid governors, and executive boards, their own logos, their own stationary (yes I thing about this), own comms and press teams (and these). Move them into the government departments and offices. Stop future separate spending plans, it’s hard to believe this is worth less than 5% of the budget of most of these organisations that’s at least a one year increase they could forgo.
No need to pay people off or spend money on merger costs, just simply bring them in house. Make executive boards internal staff on the same T&Cs, just don’t replace them when current terms end. Use up the current stationary, stay in the same offices until you want or choose to move, use the old quango name as the new internal department one. Merge non-core teams directly into the existing department wide ones, and keep separate IT systems until they are due to be replaced. Just stop spending more for the future. Simplify, simplify, simplify and see the size and cost of government reduce.
None of these ideas alone wipe billions off government spending. Together they are intended to set the tone that government doesn’t need to just expand it can also reduce. None are intended to be very controversial. All I would venture could pass without very significant public criticism, they might even draw out opposition parties to criticise popular ideas. We need to move government to a model that is sustainable and for the sake of all our freedoms controllable.
Taxpayers through government should protect and educate you as a child. Help you if you need it, as an adult. Then leave you alone, as the rest is up to you.
We recorded a Pubcast on this article available at https://croydonconstitutionalists.uk/pubcast-9-how-to-shrink-government/
We discuss the momentous General Election Result and reflect upon the results locally.
We consider the future of the political parties and the effect of the UK finally leaving the EU will have on them.
We also briefly touch on the future for Leavers of Croydon.
YouTube:
Thanks to Tim Duce for our intro and outro music.
Michael Swadling, from the Croydon Constitutionalists, offers his forecast for the election outcome in an interview with Sputnik Radio.
“The Conservatives clearly need to play the expectation game. They want to make sure their voters come out on what might be a miserable winter’s day next week and they need people scared slightly of a Corbyn government”
“Labour’s campaign change doesn’t appear to particularly have worked. They have attempted to become a more Brexit-y party with some of their core voters – I think people see through that very clearly”
“the biggest democratic vote on any subject in British history, which needs to be honoured for Britain to remain a democracy, and even if he [Jeremy Corbyn] was in a restrained manner in government, that would be a real systemic risk to the British economy”
Audio:
