In praise of “The Plan”

Douglas Craswell MP and Daniel Hannan MEP have produced an interesting book enttitled “The Plan. Twelve months to renew Britain” I recommend it to anyone who wants to see democracy restored and people empowered in these islands.

The Plan includes a proposal for a big repeal Bill, to get governemnt off our backs in those many areas where it has strayed without good reason. The authors want us to reassert Parliamentary sovereignty by clarifying the power of Westminster vis a vis Brussels. They want to legislate to make every school independent, to give schools, parents and pupils more freedoms. They want to transfer more power to local government, and more power to families and private institutions.

It is gripping material , and well worth a read.

Click here to go to the book’s website and purchase a copy.

8 Comments

  1. Hal
    October 15, 2008

    Please try to get the spelling right. It's Not "Westmionster", it's Westmonster.

  2. Rush-is-Right
    October 15, 2008

    I would like to make a suggestion about a useful change.

    Make small businesses exempt from the employment protection laws.

    I write as a former proprietor of a small business. We had legal insurance covering the cost of representation at Employment Tribunals and we never lost a case.

    But the sheer effort that was diverted from the running of our business was frightful. For all that management time to be lost (and you never get any compensation no matter how frivolous the complaint) is just too great a demand on a business too small to hire an HR department.

  3. James Barlow
    October 15, 2008

    I'd be more inclined to read it if it didn't cost £5 to download.

    I suppose charging people to read your manifesto is a step up from not having a manifesto at all, which is a problem I feel we have over here in Bristol's local government campaign.

  4. Freeborn John
    October 15, 2008

    My copy arrived last week. Work and family events mean that i have only had time to read the first two chapters so far but what i have read is both well written and suitably bold.

  5. rugfish
    October 15, 2008

    It sounds very good.
    It's currently on Amazon at £9.99 but temporarily out of stock.
    This is a review from the site and I'll be purchasing a copy :-

    Quote a reader Mr Andrew Woodman;

    "As a devotee of their previous publication 'Direct Democracy', it was with great anticipation that I awaited phase two which it turns out lives up to the high quality free thinking of it's predecessor.

    Since Direct Democracy there has been great changes both technologically and politically. Blogs and grassroots websites have taken on the mainstream media, and given the public thousands of sources of information where previously they were restricted to TV and Newspapers. Politically, the public are growing tired of a big unaccountable Government and it's various agencies poking its nose into every aspect of their lives.

    So how is The Plan different from Direct Democracy? Well for a start the title is a confliction for it conjures up images of Stalin and Brown with Tractor Production figures which couldn`t be more different from its content.

    Instead it extends previous ideas with adaptations and additions to deal with different conditions. In the book stays moves to make Councils self financing and election sheriffs to make local services properly accountable. The additions include action to make quangos, senior judges and ambassadors accountable, even more proposed devolution to counties and cities in much matters as social security, and a "Great Repeal Bill" to annul unnecessary and burdensome laws.

    The topic I think will really be taken on quickly is the way the internet is changing politics. The old structures of the local Party and Branch, Trade Union's ect are dwindling and a new internet based single issue politics is emerging. As the Authors predict, the political party that realises and "gets" the this will be the one that starts to do so called "digital politics" in Britain correctly.

    In summary this is a radical, thought provoking book which sets out a truly democratic accountable Britain and is well worth a read".

  6. Acorn
    October 15, 2008

    Nice promo' John and Carswell has some good ideas but we all know it is going nowhere. His enthusiasm for "micro-states" GDP per capita, is looking a bit sick now (Iceland for instance).

    The "Direct Democracy" localist papers campaign never took off because your party never endorsed it. Even the link on their site to the Telegraph "Think Local" blog has been disconnected.

    Today, a dozen MPs will waive through parliament, a £42 billion additional supply estimate. David Heath (LD) was the only one to admit that our esteemed parliament has no control over government spending whatsoever. It is a bloody disgrace.

    As the House of Commons cost us taxpayers £322 million to run last year, a good idea would be to reduce the number of MPs to about 160. That is, two per County / Unitary District. We may even be able to reduce that further to 80. A US Congressman has a constituency of circa 700, 000 for instance.

    The days of District / Borough and County Councils having sixty or seventy members are over. You only need to elect an Executive of about seven members including an Executive Mayor. Then the voters will know who to blame when something ain't right.

  7. Derek
    October 15, 2008

    I hope it attracts endorsement from the party leadership also.

  8. Obnoxio The Clown
    October 15, 2008

    You can also buy it (book, or e-book) here: http://www.lulu.com/content/3704883

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