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The Consensus
Manifesto
"The things that
will destroy us are:
politics without principle;
pleasure
without conscience;
wealth without work;
knowledge
without character;
business without morality;
science
without humanity;
and worship without sacrifice."
Mahatma
Gandhi
Note that the rationale
for all these policies can be found in various essays on the
website.
In general only major differences from existing
government policies are presented, in outline.
Political Reform
Any
person elected to Parliament must permanently relinquish wealth
in excess of ten times the wealth of the average citizen.
No MP
may take any other paid work while during their term in
Parliament.
Upon
leaving Parliament an MP will continue to receive their salary
for five more years, during which they will be barred from
taking paid employment.
Upon
leaving Parliament an MP will be barred from any work with
companies that involves them in government contracts,
legislation, or lobbying either directly or indirectly.
The
above also applies to senior government ministers, but the
period is for life.
Those
who are elected by the community to represent its interests must
not belong to exclusive or secretive organisations.
Political
parties are to be funded solely by the state and/or individual
membership fees.
Promises
made by a political party in order to get elected are to be
legally binding.
Proportional
representation is to be instituted.
A wide
ranging Freedom of Information Act is to replace the current
legislation, and the public to be given far greater access to
all aspects of government decision making and information.
Wherever
possible all decisions will be made by one named individual,
supported (if necessary) by an advisory committee, who will bear
sole responsibility for such decisions. As far as possible the
anonymity of 'collective responsibility' is to be abolished.
Every decision will have a name attached.
Power will be devolved to the
lowest practical level in all instances.
Consensus members who are
local councillors will have the freedom to campaign on local
issues as they see fit - with no doctrinaire interference.
The Economy
While
global free trade between equals is deemed desirable,
multinational companies are to be considered entities on a par
with foreign states. Their products to be taxed if their
behaviour either here or in the Third World is found to be
unjust or exploitative. Not 'free trade – but 'fair
trade'.
An
interest free banking system is to be established for the
benefit of certain sections of the economy, particularly small
high technology companies, and also as part of a new Third World
aid structure.
The
national minimum wage to be raised to £8 per hour for
service industry workers in non-exportable jobs. A job not worth
paying for is not worth doing, nor should employers be
subsidised (through top-up welfare payments for the underpaid)
in such industries.
Employment
of illegal immigrants to be fined at the rate of £20,000
per instance, or 1% of turnover whichever is greater, with no
limited liabilities applying either to directors or shareholders
of the employer. Half of this money (up to a £10,000
limit) is to be provided to the illegal immigrant upon
deportation.
No work
permits to be issued for unskilled migrants.
Work
permits for skilled migrants to be issued only if there is no
significant unemployment in the sector of their employment, and
if their salary is higher than the median for the industry.
Hitech 'sweatshop labour' is to be discouraged.
Small and medium sized high
technology companies to be given major tax breaks, as well as
being exempted from much of the existing bureaucracy.
Total
taxation levels are not to be increased above current figures.
We
believe in the government running a balanced budget.
There is
to be a complete separation between state and private funding of
services. (No 'Private Finance and Investment' as presently
exists as a method of covert borrowing).
Natural
monopolies, such as the water supply infrastructure, electricity
grid, rail infrastructure etc to be 'socialised'. That is, they
are to be redefined by legislation as non-profitmaking companies
ie all revenues are to be reinvested in the businesses and there
will be no payouts to shareholders.
The state pension, and retirement
age, to be abolished. Those who cannot work will instead be
entitled to claim unemployment and welfare benefits. This is a
policy to be introduced over a fifteen year timescale. It should
be born in mind that we expect to see a drastic increase in life
expectancy in the next 30 years. Age
discrimination, and compulsory retirement solely on grounds of
age are to be made illegal.
Law and Order
Anti-discrimination laws to
cover all characteristics that are not the result of choice. Note
that this does not include the prevention of discrimination on
grounds of religion or politics. However, unless relevent to the
job in question such discrimination in public employment will not
be legal.
Existing
legislation (including anti-terrorist) will be rolled back to
ensure:
Presumption of innocence in all cases;
Full
Right to silence
No double jeopardy;
No appeal by the
prosecution after sentencing;
Trial by jury will remain a
Right of every citizen;
Freedom of movement and assembly;
No detention for more than 24 hours without charge, and no
denial of access to a legal counsel;
No indefinite detention
without trial will be permitted.
This
means undoing major elements of British legislation of the past
fifteen years and restoring freedoms lost, especially to the
various anti-terrorist acts and the Criminal Justice Bill.
Freedom
of speech, with the exception of speech that:
Constitutes a
direct incitement to violence;
Is libellous (libel laws to
be revised to limit damages to equal prominence right of reply,
corporations may only use libel laws against other corporate
entities - not individuals);
Is the product of a crime
designed to acquire or create the information – trading in
it will make one an accessory (eg some pornography, state
secrets etc)
Laws to
be introduced severing 'free speech' from monetary gain in
specific cases eg limitations on advertising, with consequent
fines, taxes or confiscations.
The
abolition of 'special treatment crime' e.g. 'hate crimes' and
the introduction of mandatory 'zero tolerance policing'.
The
police are to be placed once again under local control rather
than Home Office control as part of a decentralisation program.
Modification
of the legal system - there are to be no Rights without
corresponding Duties, both of which must be legally enforceable
to the same extent. Where a corresponding Duty cannot be defined
in law no Right will exist.
UK law,
where it pertains to purely internal matters, will not be
subject to any external jurisdiction eg the European Union.
Home
occupiers will be allowed to defend themselves and their
property using 'necessary force' rather than 'minimal force'.
The Rights of the criminal will be subordinate to the Rights of
the victim in all cases.
Individual
justice shall always take precedence over 'social justice'.
Elimination
of all existing drug laws, and the supply of any recreational
drug by state monopoly through local pharmacies to any adult who
can supply identification and proof of age. Unless the drug in
question is taxed (e.g. tobacco) medical treatment for short or
long-term effects will not be on the NHS. Supply to minors will
result in mandatory and lengthy incarceration.
Prison
to be abolished in its present form, and replaced by two major
alternatives.
The first is secure long-term accommodation
for violent offenders, with full medical and psychiatric
treatments.
The second is the establishment of an 'internal
exile' scheme whereby non-violent offenders can be removed to
isolated communities to serve out their sentence. Full education
and vocational training would be provided in such places, as
well as extended family visits.
All acts between consenting adults
are to be legal. Prostitution, for example, to be legalised and
regulated as any other entertainment business. Assisted suicide
to be permitted (but not euthenasia).
Environment
No more
countryside to be despoiled by roads or new town building.
A major
reforestation program to be instituted.
Targeted
year on year reduction in the use of pesticides and herbicides,
and support for organic farming techniques.
Routine
use of antibiotics in animal feed will be banned.
Support
for small farmers.
The
ethics outlined by Peter Singer (Princeton University, USA) will
be one of the guiding principles of our global life policies.
Fatal
experiments on all animals with a nervous system more complex
than a mouse to be made illegal.
All
genetic modifications of creatures more complex than a mouse to
be banned, unless such modifications do not result in any
diminution of the animal's ability to survive in its natural
habitat.
Factory
farming of animals to be made illegal.
Research
into tissue culture as a replacement source for meat to be
prioritised.
Massive
investment in ultra-high bandwidth communications and full
immersion virtual reality in order to minimise travel
requirements of many businesses.
Major
development of offshore wind and wave power, with the aim of
replacing the bulk of electricity currently supplied by fossil
fuels.
Research
into load levelling and energy storage/conversion systems on a
national scale.
Support
for photovoltaic roofing on new buildings - depending on the
cost and efficiency of the technology, which is advancing
rapidly.
Domestic
power usage reduction programs through insulation and energy
efficient lighting, taxation assisted.
Overall
aim of population reduction for Britain - the falling birth-rate
will not be compensated by importing migrants.
Naturally
occurring DNA sequences to be ruled as non-patentable and
non-copyrightable.
In conjunction with the EU or UN a
world-wide life survey to be carried out over a period of
decades in order to map the genomes of every species on the
planet.
Public Services
In all affairs substantial
control will be devolved to the lowest practical level. No
discrimination will be permitted, other than on grounds of
ability, in any sector that receives any state funding.
Transport
There is
to be no more substantial road building. How individual towns
and cities cope with traffic flows and transportation is to be
left to them.
Where the decision is made to
invest massively in public transport systems there must be
no-strike agreements with the workers in these services. No
nation should be held to ransom by a tiny minority of its
workforce.
Education
A
nationally agreed funding formula will allocate money to schools
on a per student basis.
Schools
will be allowed full autonomy.
The
local education authorities will become purely service providers
and quality monitors.
Only
governors and parents committees will have the power to remove
the head teacher, should the school be failing. The head teacher
will have the power to negotiate pay on a per school basis.
No
culturally divisive education is to be supported by the
taxpayer. This includes schools charging fees as well as those
selecting by class, race or religion.
Discipline
will be restored in classrooms and disruption and violence will
not be tolerated. In the worst cases CCTV may be installed to
provide objective evidence. Those pupils who engage in such will
be removed to special schools, which, at the discretion of the
local education authority, may be boarding schools. Such an
option will be compulsory if the parents cannot or will not
rectify the situation.
Physical
education will be given a high priority, bearing in mind the
deteriorating health of modern children.
Education, especially at university
level, is to be targeted towards socially useful subjects such
as the sciences, medicine, engineering etc and away from the
'softer' options such as media studies, management, sociology
etc. This will be done by providing full grants to students
undertaking the former, and removing subsidies from the latter
subjects. Those receiving full grants will be liable to repay
them if they emigrate within a ten-year period after graduation.
Health
Concerning
the National Health Service, autonomy at the lowest practical
level will be the key.
Percentage
of GDP spent on the NHS will be brought up to European levels,
and micro-management by civil servants and government in general
will be greatly reduced.
Ultimately
the 'patient as customer' will act as quality control.
Reducing
NHS reliance on imported medical labour, especially from the
Third World, will be a major aim of the education system.
Far more
attention will be paid to preventive medicine.
Life extension and anti-ageing
treatments to be introduced as they become available and
practical.
Housing
The old
'council housing schemes' to be revived especially for inner
city areas in order to provide cheap, safe and superior
accommodation for local people. The emphasis will be on high
density, but instead of the 'concrete jungle' estates or tower
blocks of the past one should think more of the Georgian
architecture of Regents Park in London, or of the better parts
of Paris.
Disruptive
and anti-social elements will be quickly removed.
One
explicit aim of the new council housing will be to reverse any
ghettoisation trends in our cities and integrate ethnic
minorities fully into the mainstream of housing.
Given that an overall aim of the
Consensus is population reduction in Britain, in time we would
expect to see a slow decline, in real terms, of housing costs.
Defence
Withdrawal
from NATO and the establishment of an EU force whose only remit
is within its own borders, or on the periphery, if it wishes to
act autonomously. Otherwise it is the force that will be made
available for UN peacekeeping missions in place of national
forces.
The
standardisation and integration of military equipment and
national forces across the EU.
An
immediate halt to the selling of arms to nations that are not
democracies, or are debtor nations in the international
community.
No
government credit to be extended to defence industries, nor will
risk be underwritten by the taxpayer.
Retention
of both tactical and strategic nuclear weapons and forces, with
next generation development integrated with the French.
Britain's
military forces to be geared primarily towards defence of these
Islands, and secondarily defence of EU states.
The global role of our military to
be scaled back.
Social
The
state will not legislate personal morality.
Social
engineering experiments will be supported by the state in areas
of housing, communal living (eg kibbutzim), co-operative housing
communities targetted at needy minorities, 'coming of age'
ceremonies encompassing legal social contracts modelled on, but
extending beyond, the German Jugendfeier of the Humanistic
Association.
Marriage
and cohabitation contracts to be introduced, severing this
institution from historical religious domination.
It will be made explicit that our
society is only 'multicultural' within the limits of the secular
Western Liberal model. Within these (wide) limits we will strive
to create an integrated harmonious society.
The European Union
In principle we believe a
certain level of unification is both desirable and necessary if
Europe is to have a voice in the world. However there are
elements of the current EU structure and policies that need
massive revision, at least from the point of view of Britain. In
particular:
The
European Parliament, and the directly elected MEPs, should be
the primary legislative body.
The
Council of Ministers should be reduced to that of 'second
chamber' with power of veto.
The
Commission should be de-politicised and become a purely
executive civil service.
The
Court of Justice would preside over disputes involving members
states, EU institutions and businesses - but not individuals.
The
European Economic and Social Committee would largely be scrapped
as there would no pan-European social policy at all; this being
a matter for individual states. In no case would the EU or any
of its institutions have a remit extending into the purely
internal workings of the member states.
The EU constitution should be a
statement of the limitations of EU power with respect to its
member nations and citizens.
EU Legislation
Our
internal legal system should not be dirtectly subject to
European legislation or any external Human Rights Act including
that of the United Nations. What laws our citizens choose to
live under via their democratically elected representatives are
not the business of any body external to our society.
We
intend to withdraw or renegotiate all treaties that limit the
internal law making ability of Parliament or attempts to
permanently remove such powers from Parliament to any external
body.
We note that our Head of State is
the monarch and that all law officers, the judiciary and
military are sworn to obey lawful authority as defined by
legislation signed by the monarch after being passed by
Parliament. They are not sworn to a written constitution neither
internal nor external. This means that there still exists a
mechanism whereby our judiciary can be made to obey the will of
Parliament over any foreign legislation or treaty commitment.
Areas of Common Interest
The only legitimate areas of
co-operation within the EU concern issues that cannot, or should
not, be resolved on an internal national basis. These include,
but are not limited to, defence, environment, foreign policy,
foreign aid, international economics, aerospace and co-ordinated
scientific research.
The Euro
There are both pros and cons
with respect to adopting a continent wide currency. At present we
are not in favour of joining, however that may well change as the
situation develops over the next few years. If we do join it
should only be under two conditions.
International
Asylum
'Asylum seekers', the bulk of whom
are economic migrants, will not be provided with automatic
access to Britain. Any arriving via a safe third country in
which they could have claimed asylum will be returned there
immediately with no judicial review. Others will be resettled
outside of Britain in nations culturally and economically
compatible with their nations of origin. The British government
will pay one year's worth of average income per refugee (at host
nation rates) towards their resettlement, plus a fee to the host
nation for accepting them.
Aid
Third World Aid will be in
the following forms:
Abolition
of interest on current debt
The
establishment of an interest free banking system for aid.
No cash
loans will be extended to governments.
Aid to
be delivered primarily by expanding the role of private sector
aid agencies such as Oxfam, ActionAid etc
Free university education in
Britain for the brightest students– and compulsory return
home.
Policy
©
The Consensus 2004
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