10 Reasons Why UK MPs are Failing Us

 How suited are our MPs to their role? Do they take governance of the UK seriously, or are MPs simply seeking the limelight?

In a recent Freedom of Information Act request to the MP for Maidstone, the question was posed “What is the government’s plan to reduce the £2.4 trillion National Deficit”. This is a very significant issue and is a ticking time bomb. Inflation will push up monthly borrowing, which before the crisis was already larger than some government department spends.

Her response “A clear financing strategy is in place to meet the Government’s funding needs, which is set independently of the Bank of England’s monetary policy decisions. It is for the Monetary Policy Committee to take decisions on quantitative easing operations to meet the objectives in their remit, and my colleagues at the Treasury remain fully committed to their independence.”

It all sounds very clever and certainly sounds like there is a plan in place, but it is utter nonsense. The reader is bamboozled with jargon and platitudes, a typical response from government.

Quantitative easing simply means, printing money. Does this work and is it a long-term plan? We are meant to learn from history, but it certainly doesn’t seem that the government has learned anything from history. In Germany in the 1930s printing money was a fall-back position and it led to hyperinflation. You could go into a coffee shop for a 1000-mark coffee and by the time you paid it was significantly more expensive. Printing money is a stop gap, and the MPs response shows lack of thought. Government borrowing will not be curtailed and so printing of money will continue to be the plan. That is highly dangerous and is NOT a plan.

So, what do we learn from this. 1. The government doesn’t have a plan, or the MP doesn’t know the plan, 2. The MP/government possibly fails to see how dangerous the plan is. 3. MPs may not be suited to their role and may not have a clue about key issues. 4. MPs/government are content to fob off the public with platitudes and treat them with contempt.

What about other government plans? Boris Johnson recently criticised Tony Blair for failing to plan for nuclear energy facilities. However, there has been several prime ministers since Tony Blair - Brown, Cameron, May and Johnson. So, the reality is that none of them has had a clear energy strategy, apart from wind farms and solar, which would only ever deliver a fraction of UK needs. Even if the successive governments claim they had a strategy, it is abundantly clear that they all failed, given the current crisis.

Other areas where there is a lack of long-term planning:

1.       Water. The recent drought has highlighted that no action has been taken since the last drought in the 70s. Same with sewage.

2.       Policing. Successful arrests seem outrageously low, and burglaries are not even attended. The police appear to be non-effective.

3.       Military, Numbers have been successively cut despite manifesto pledges and of course increasing instability in Ukraine, South China Sea.

4.       NHS. The only plan seems to be to spend more than the opposition. Does the government even know or care what happens to the money?

5.       No clear Energy policy.

6.       No clear policy on reducing the National Debt

7.       Selling off UK companies leading to asset stripping and or tax avoidance.

8.       The pandemic lab being closed months before Covid struck.

9.       The UK gas reserve facility being shut months before the energy crisis.

What about election manifestos? Every election follows with U-turns and manifestos are simply abandoned as soon as a party is elected. In effect, the only plan is shredded and was only in place to dupe the electorate. It is a common joke in the UK that politicians cannot be trusted, and yet we all seem to accept it. When it comes to elections, only about two thirds[1] of the population votes. So, a third of the population were possibly too frustrated that no government seems to make a difference? Are we simply voting for the best of the worst parties in an election?

It is becoming clear that no government in the last 30 years have had any long-term plans. There is clearly no thinking in government. MPs seem only in government either for fame or to back-stab colleagues to climb the political ladder.  As an example of MPs seeking fame, a very prominent MP abandoned her electorate in favour of fame in I’m a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here 2012.

So, what is the answer. The UK government needs to be answerable to the public, after all it is the UK electorate that they represent. The exact mechanism needs some thought but as an example, a body of people, probably around 20 or so, should replace the House of Lords. Their remit should be:

1.       To identify key areas that need government strategies, such as National Debt, Energy, Education, Policing, Climate Change, etc (as examples).

2.       To ensure that these areas have clear and meaningful long-term plans and not simply platitudes and that these plans are being addressed and met.

3.       Election manifestos are reasonable and are also achieved. Manifestos should not be outlandish to simply get votes and then lead to U-turns.

4.       The Civil Service should once again take a lead role in planning the above and should be the connection between changing governments. Quangos filled by friends and families of MPS are not working, are not fit for purpose, and cost too much money.

5.       A method should be found to ensure MPs are suited to their office, prior to their standing for the role.

6.       British Industry is not sold off to overseas companies, then asset stripped, despite assurances.

In summary, the UK has been severely let down by successive governments spanning at least 30 years. The National Debt is a massive ticking timebomb. Quantitative easing, if that is the only plan, is a potential disaster and we need to learn from history and mistakes made. Long term planning in all departments is essential and to date has been absent for many, many years. It is simply not good enough and successive governments have failed the UK people.

 

 

 

---

[1] https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/general-election-turnout-2019-uk-voter-numbers-how-many-people-voted-374546

Sajid Javid Wants Selfish Baby Boomers to Die and Leave their Houses to the State.

I hold Sajid Javid in contempt. To blame the older generation for the housing crisis is an utter nonsense.

Labour started mass migration to this country some years ago in an attempt, by their own admission, to change the voting demographics of the country. The Tories have done no better and the BREXIT drive is far too late as the population in this country is now close to 70 million in my opinion.

Surely that is the biggest issue to do with housing. Even assuming a paltry 3 million new houses need building that is massive. That is equivalent to 3-4 cities the size of Edinburgh.

How on earth are baby boomers to blame for that? Yes, there is now a massive problem but it was caused by government. They are now trying to pass the blame, as usual, to others. What I don't understand is, is Sajid suggested that the selfish baby boomers should all die and bequeath their house to the state? -- that would surely solve his problem.

I am sick to death of MPs making ludicrous statements and trying to pass the blame for their mistakes.

Pensions, the Looming Crisis and Who is to Blame?

Damien Green announced he will curb pensions to be fair to the young. Isn't it time that MPs and British people woke up to the fact that it's successive governments' handling of finances that has caused the financial crisis. Stop blaming others! Government has created its own financial crisis and doesn't plan.

For example, Margaret Hodge has featured everyday n the Press last week (September 12-15), promoting her new book (Called to Account) and how she identified massive government waste of money across all sectors. Did Hodge actually do anything to curb the massive waste of money? It seems not, otherwise it wouldn't still be an issue. Across all sectors of government there seems to be a financial crisis and by her own admission it's due to incompetence. So what did Hodge achieve in her time as Chair of the Public Accounts Committee? Did she reign in spending? It seems not. And yet she has a cheek to write a book and crow about it.

Why then, with all this government waste, is Damien Green blaming financial problems on pensioners? When pensioners were young, their earnings paid for pensions at the time, so shouldn't they expect the same in return? If there is anything at blame it is that the government's inability to plan ahead and financial ineptitude. Surely they should have planned for pensions rather than relying on the current generation. Surely that is what the National Insurance is for, except we all know that NI has been spent on whatever the government at the time wants to shore up rather than actually saving it towards pensions.

As further evidence of lack of government planning, look at the crisis in the NHS and Energy. Government simply fails to plan. If you need further convincing, look at BREXIT and the Scottish Independence vote. No one in government had actually considered what might happen should the vote be a surprise. Government doesn't think and that needs to change.

Back to pensions -- wasn't it Gordon Brown who raided pensions? Hasn't that contributed to this mess? I don't remember Brown even getting the blame at the time. So how can Damien Green blame financial problems on pensioners. It is government ineptitude. And if you think this is Tory bashing, think again. Labour are just as much to blame. The NHS, as an example, was just as much in crisis under them as it is with the Tories. 

In summary, the looming crisis in pensions is due to:

1. A government created crisis in finance due to wasting money (see earlier articles on a failure to collect business taxes)

2. Government inability to plan 

3. Gordon Brown's raid on pensions

Government needs to change.

Election Summary: Spin and Lies All Round

On the Remain camp: finances and pensions will crash. 

On the Leave camp: Migration is too high and there are world markets to explore.

Unsurprisingly, the evidence on both sides is very thin. Taking one of many examples: both camps have polar views on how much Eu law there is in the UK. Leave say 75% and remain about 8%. They have chosen figures from the same report. They chose a figure to suit their argument, not one that actually helps the debate. 

There is so much spin that I am surprised my neck hasn't snapped. What politicians refer to as spin I think most people would say are lies.

So why? Who benefits? The PM is being pressured by the US to remain and that's a powerful pressure. It is clear that reform failed and was a damp squib so that argument doesn't really hold water, hence back to the US pressure.

Boris wants to be PM and this is a route to this. 

Corbyn remains quiet and secretly wants to become Russian I think. 

In my view, it is a great shame that the British public are hoodwinked by spin/lies. This is not what we should expect from people supposedly leading us. Shame there isn't a vote to state our displeasure.

A Key Government Failure in the Referendum -- Lack of Planning

If the Vote Leave is such a disaster why has the Prime Minister allowed a referendum?

Answer

Government has once again failed to think ahead. Look at the Scottish referendum and how MPs on both sides behaved like headless chickens just before the voting. They hadn't thought ahead, that Scotland might vote to leave the UK. 

I am absolutely amazed that the very same thing is happening in the lifetime of one parliament. Surely the government considered that the public might vote to leave the Eu ...and yet once again the politicians are behaving like headless chickens trying to make us vote Remain. 

Perhaps there should be a vote of no confidence in how we run politics. It seems politicians are only keen on winning votes rather than what is good for the country. How many U-turns have there been and mainly due to vote winning? Cameron's first act in his last government was to close grammar schools until he famously faced a backlash.

The premise of this website is that government fails to think, whether it is Labour, Conservative or others. Allowing a referendum on Europe and then trying to shoehorn the UK public demonstrates a lack of ability to plan and think. Is this the type of politician we want?

What we should strive for:

1. We should have politicians with an experience of life, industry, business. Career politicians have proven to be a failure.

2. We need a body to control parliament and to direct them to important and difficult issues such as energy and the NHS. Throwing money at the latter is not the answer and we should find out where the money is spent. 


3. The House of Lords does not work and is full of cronyism. This should be replaced with something that does work and soilves teh issues mentioned in 2.

Is the UK No Longer Democratic?

OK this seems absurd, asking if the UK is democratic but bear with me and decide for yourself.

1. Tony Blair committed UK to war in Iraq on his word alone.
2. David Cameron has committed the UK to a £11 billion overseas aid package on his say so alone.
3. Gordon Brown destroyed pensions by raiding the private sector pension pot on his say so. The private sector has been targeted as a result as their pensions looked strangely one-sided.
4. Cameron increased student fees from £3k to £9k.
5. Frank Dobson based on his says so doubled/tripled the cost of the NHS based on his "advice"/management, seemingly ignoring any advice.

Were any of these voted on? I can go on.

Nearly every pledge has been dropped over the last 20-30 years. We vote the government in based on their manifesto, which they simply drop when it suits them. So where is the democracy? We vote and are ignored time and time again.

Are we stupid?.

Are Ministers Destroying the UK?

The NHS crisis is a good example to look at. Every government argues they know best for the NHS. It is an election nightmare for the British public, knowing who to trust. But what is the truth about the NHS and funding?

An article written by Broken Vows: Tony Blair - The Tragedy of Power written by Tom Bower is a very interesting read. Frank Dobson was the minister in charge of the NHS, appointed by Blair. He knew nothing about the NHS and it seems that he tore up all the advice and made many bizarre decisions that effectively committed money to the NHS with no guidance on where it was to be spent. An IT system at the time was estimated at £2 billion but cost £18 billion. That is a staggering sum of money. GPs were allowed to negotiate their own pay and conditions and amazingly they got a 26% rise in pay for fewer hours. How many of us would dream of that.

When Blair came to power the NHS budget was £34 billion. In 2012 it was £127 billion. Where is all that money going and why is the NHS gobbling money so much? Surely a firm of accountants should be called in to look at the books. I was told by a friend that a colleague inputting data on a data base for the NHS earned £100k. That is an incredible salary for a simple job.  I believe locums are paid £1000 a day and many nurses are bought in from agencies at 3 times the cost of an NHS nurse doing the same job.

Are the Tories any better? The answer seems to be no. They ring-fenced the money and offer another billion a year. It seems the solution for every government is to lob more money at the problem, to the detriment of many other departments.

But why should a minister ignore the advice of the civil service and force his/her own agenda, even though he/she has no experience. It seems to be normal practice, Gordon Brown raided pension funds, seemingly with no advice. David Cameron has introduced sweeping changes to obey Eu law that frankly even France and Germany ignored. Cameron even ignored advice of his top military in air raids in Syria, leading to one commander telling David that his experience in the Cadets did not justify his taking over. However, he did do. So Frank Dobson was not alone in introducing his own agenda regardless of outcome.

An argument is always that medical equipment is expensive but what is the truth? Military equipment is definitely expensive and costs have soared, but the MOD has managed on reduced budgets year in and on.

Why does the British public allow it?? Ministers make sweeping changes with little thought to the outcome. The UK should return to setting policy based on advice from the Civil Service rather than fame-seeking people with no common sense.