Monday, April 26, 2010

The floater voter's guide to good government

Not made up your mind yet for this May 6th? Unsure whether to stick with the Devil you know, the Labour party? Rooting for the new and recently improved (as of last Thursday) Lib Dems? Want a bit of RESPECT in your life and a regular bus service to ferry George Galloway and co around with loudspeakers? Or is bigotism the dish of the day in your household with the BNP? Considering a vote for bush with the Greens? Or a crack at the indie record with UKIP?

So many parties, so little time! With just over a week 'til you cast your eye over the hundreds of leaflets pouring from your letterbox, it's no easy feat trying to make your mind up while you hold back the canvassers counting on your vote.

So TTG will make it easy for you. Here's the best policies of the lot.



Businesses
  • Want to Work For Yourself but worried about being crippled by tax costs? This party pledges to Cut Corporation Tax rates; the main rate from 28p to 25p and the small companies' rate from 22p to 20p.
  • All new businesses won't have to pay Employers' National Insurance either in their first year.


Community

  • Moving from the big state, to the big society
  • Ability to come together to address local issues if your local council isn't doing its job e.g. including enabling parents to open new schools, letting neighbours take over local amenities like parks and libraries that are under threat, giving the public greater control of the planning system, and enabling residents to hold the police to account in neighbourhood beat meetings
  • 16 year olds can sign up to a volunteer programme to pick up skills, meet people and improve their communities
  • Additional English classes so language is no longer a barrier in society; teach our children the history of this nation and celebrate St George



Cleaning up politics

  • Reform our system by reducing number of MPs
  • the right to recall misbehaving members and sorting out any differences over boundaries and constituency sizes
  • Cap on donations to all parties to put sleaze to bed; also new rules on lobbying
  • English MPs will have right to vote on English issues
  • Want a bill put through for consideration? This party will allow you to submit legislation and referenda requests
  • Council tax too high? Veto any excessive rises with this party
  • Councillors will have to reveal all their spending and contracts online


Climate change


  • Making it easy to go green with over £6k for each household for energy improvements
  • Keeping a check that we have plenty of supplies of electric and water so government can cope in a national crisis
  • Cut Government's carbon footprint by 10 per cent within just one year. On your bike, MPs!
  • Communities who run on renewable energy will be rewarded greatly by keeping their business rates they generate for six years.
  • Creation of cleaner nuclear power stations

Crime

  • No more red tape; fewer forms to fill out and more bobbies on the beat to fight crime just as they were trained to.

Culture, media and sport
  • An independent BBC -yes, really!
  • Scrap of the 'phone tax'
  • Superfast broadband nationwide by 2017 - silver surfers to be on the rise
  • Olympics to inspire a nationwide competition in schools to encourage kids into sport

Defence

  • Our Boys serving in Afghanistan will receive bigger bonuses
  • Give serving soldiers the right to vote
  • Defence reviews to make sure your money is being spent in the right places and is used effectively

Economy

  • Stop the planned National Insurance rate increase for everyone earning under £35k
  • Begin work of tackling our deficit and not by brushing it under the carpet.
  • 9 out of 10 first time buyers will not have to pay Stamp Duty
  • Inheritance Tax only for millionaires
  • Marriage will be recognised in the tax system
  • Crackdown on bankers' bonuses

Environment

  • Prepare Britain properly to face floods with better defences and only necessary building in flood-prone areas
  • Maintaining green belts and the introduction of nationwide tree planting


Europe

  • Maintaining of membership of the EU; working with European countries to face global poverty and global warming
  • A UK Sovereignty Bill to keep our authority over United Kingdom's laws of the land


Family

  • Recognise civil partnerships and marriage in the tax system
  • Flexible parental leave so men can be stay-at-home daddies
  • Support pensioners by protecting things like the winter fuel payment, free bus passes and free TV licences
  • Free nursery care for pre-school children
  • Greater access rights for the extended family and grandparents



Farming

  • Shoppers will know if they're buying British with better labelling
  • Farmers will get a fairer deal with the selection of an independent supermarket ombudsman to ensure fair competition for consumers and farmers
  • Serve up farmers' food in our schools and hospitals.



Health

  • Increase spending on the NHS every year
  • Give patients the right to choose their doctor or hospital
  • Free dental checks for five year olds and more people to have an NHS dentist
  • People first, not targets; Ensure best new drugs are free on the NHS where possible
Housing

  • Abolish HIPs which make selling homes more difficult
  • More part-own schemes to make it cheaper to go on the housing ladder
  • Right to Move schemes to allow tenants in social housing to exchange homes in other areas
  • Building of more family homes with gardens and parking



Immigration

  • An annual cap on workers coming overseas (outside EU) with needed skills jumping in front of the queue
  • Border police to actually POLICE our borders and keep a check on who comes in and out
  • English test for people coming in to this country from outside the EU

Jobs

  • 200,000 apprenticeships for teens to kickstart their careers
  • Allow unemployed young people to go on the Work Programme to help them find work after just six months
  • Mentors to help people volunteer and loans for would-be entrepreneurs to start a business
  • Anyone who is offered a job that they can do and refuses it will have their benefits cut

Justice

  • Prisoners will have to earn their release through education and rehabilitation
  • Scrap ID cards
  • DNA doesn't belong to government and this party plans to only store DNA belonging to offenders
  • No early release - Increase prison spaces instead
Pensioners

  • Home protection scheme to stop older people being forced to sell their homes to fit the bill for residential care
  • Two year council tax freeze

Schools

  • Discipline to return to the classroom; head teachers can search pupils, give them detention and exclude unruly pupils
  • Teachers will have to get top grades to train
  • Creation of independently run schools by local communities, faith groups and charities
Universities

  • A bonus for paying back student loan early
  • 10,000 extra places at university
  • extra 100,000 college places
  • Community Learning Fund to help adults in new careers



Did you agree with any or most of the policies* above?

If so, congratulations, you share the same ideas to get this country moving in the right direction. Voting Conservative would be the best option for you if you want any of the above as they are all Tory ideas.

Conservatives: A deal too good to miss


* The policies above all feature on the Conservatives 'What we stand for' page This is not an extensive list but just TTG's fave and all-rounded policies which can and will work for you.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

I would like the abolition of money...

Unknown said...

And if we disagree with most of them, because they involve keeping taxes too high and speeding too much of my hard earned money?

Or because they involve staying in the EU?

Or because they want to maintain/increase state involvement in private lives?

Or because they want to force unproven and discredited green theories upon the public at a high cost to taxes?

Who do we vote for then? Because the Tory party 20 years ago offered that.

Anonymous said...

@Williamsjk,

Tory party from 20 years ago? I think you may find your home with the UKIP party - having the conservative policies the Tories SHOULD have!