POPULAR CONSERVATISM 2024 ELECTION PLEDGE CARD 

 

1 - Take back control of our borders by leaving the European Convention on Human Rights and repealing the Human Rights Act

 

Despite clear support for removing illegal migrants to Rwanda and deterring dangerous Channel crossings in small boats, the government’s attempts to implement this policy have been repeatedly blocked by judges.  After Tony Blair introduced the Human Rights Act in 1998, he made Britain and its courts subservient to the foreign European Convention on Human Rights.

Only by repealing the Human Rights Act and ending the controlling influence of the ECHR can Britain pursue an effective migration policy to protect its borders, and stop paying out £8 million a day to fund hotels for the immigrants who have come into the UK illegally.  If Britain doesn’t leave the ECHR, activists and lefty lawyers will always find new loopholes to keep their clients in taxpayer-funded hotels.

 

2 - Scrap the Equality Act so that taxes paid by hardworking people are used for services people need rather than unproductive, divisive, woke and anti-capitalist political campaigns

 

In the final days of the New Labour government in 2010, Gordon Brown pushed a number of laws through Parliament with very little scrutiny. One such law was the Equality Act 2010. Unsurprisingly this rights-based law, and particularly the Public Sector Equality Duty it created, has been weaponised by the Left to ensure compliance with political correctness in schools, businesses and the government.

Some estimates show that billions of pounds a year is spent by the government on Equality and Diversity jobs, woke public procurement contracts, and politically correct projects in quangos like the Office for Students. The Equality Act must be repealed to stop the Left using taxpayer funds to enforce their politically motivated ideology, and allow the government to get on with delivering public services that we need.

 

3 - Break the stagnant economic consensus and make Britain grow again by abolishing the Office for Budget responsibility and reforming the Bank of England’s mandate

 

Britain’s economy isn’t growing and the consensus on tax, spending and regulation is out of date. Two of the organisations central to this stagnation are the Office for Budget Responsibility and the Bank of England.

Whilst the OBR is relied upon as the authoritative state forecaster, its broken model has produced errors of £630bn when predicting borrowing, and £558bn of errors on economic growth since 2010.[READ HERE] The OBR needs to be abolished to return control over fiscal policy to the government and ministers. It’s value as a forecaster is questionable, and it should not wield the undemocratic power to set headroom limits and block tax cuts – this should be the remit of democratically elected MPs and Chancellors.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England’s incompetence is estimated to cost British households an average of £5,546.[READ HERE]  It has failed on inflation by 50% compared to mainstream central banks and it has decided to pass losses to taxpayers incurred by selling government bonds, unlike any other mainstream central bank (Federal Reserve, ECB, Bank of Canada, Australia, New Zealand etc).  The Bank of England is costing the British taxpayer dearly and its mandate must be reviewed to ensure its independence is providing value for money to British taxpayers and the British economy.

 

4 - Repeal the 2050 Net Zero target and bring accountability to environmental policy in order to build more homes, reduce taxes and make business more competitive

 

The Green Lobby promised Net Zero would boost growth, provide high-quality jobs and reduce the cost of energy. Business owners, steelworkers and anyone with an electricity bill can tell you how wrong they were. Households are burdened with green levies, and extortionate energy prices are inflicting unilateral economic disarmament as our businesses can no longer compete internationally. It’s clear that Net Zero will be far more expensive than we were told, and current estimates suggest a £1.3 trillion bill if we keep the 2050 target.

Alongside Net Zero, an industry of anti-growth environmental quangos, such as the Environment Agency and Natural England, are blocking the building of new homes and infrastructure, making housing unaffordable and suffocating economic growth. These bodies are completely unaccountable to voters, yet have a huge say in policy.

By repealing the 2050 Net Zero target and bringing democratic accountability to environmental quangos, governments will be able to build more homes, reduce taxes on businesses and families, and make British industry competitive again.

 

5 - Restore democratic accountability to the Civil Service so that ministers can get on with delivering the platform they were elected on

 

Earlier this year Civil Service bosses gathered in Whitehall to discuss their top wishes for 2024. Top of their list was ‘change of government’.  And, of course, top Civil Servant Sue Gray is now Labour leader Keir Starmer’s chief of staff.  Any suggestion that the Civil Service remains impartial is now beyond belief.

Every other government has recognised this. Many other countries, including Australia, Canada and Germany, recognise ministers must have some role in appointing the top Civil Servants that work for them. The alternative is the UK’s predicament of supposedly impartial Civil Servants constantly obstructing democratically-supported policies.

To restore democratic accountability to the Civil Service, the top 3 ranks (Permanent Secretaries, Directors General and Directors) should be appointed by ministers. Not only will this mean the working relationships in government departments are better, but when Civil Servants make mistakes there is accountability and responsibility for their actions.