UKIP
UKIP have an MP. The Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Greens, Respect, a couple of independents and several parties representing Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland parties already did. Are they on the news as much? Doesn't seem that way. Many agree - that's why thousands of people have signed this petition to get the Greens on to the televised pre-election debates if UKIP are.
UKIP are big news though, because they speak for us, for ordinary people and will make Britain fairer for all, right? They're different to the 'Westminster Elite'. Nigel Farage drinks beer! He's like me!
Farage went from private education to a job in the City as a banker. He was a member of the Conservative Party before helping form UKIP. From that, he sounds more like others in politics than like me, but you can't help your background. Better to look at what UKIP stand for.
If you're thinking of voting UKIP to get a fairer society and get away from the current rule by a wealthy elite, first read some of their policies:
– We will introduce a 35p income tax rate between £42,285 and £55,000, whereupon the 40p rate becomes payable. (Cutting taxes for those earning over £42k)
– Inheritance tax will be abolished. (Inheritance tax only kicks in on estates over £325k or £650k for couples - most estates aren't affected. Abolishing inheritance tax would only increase the accumulation of wealth by already wealthy families)
– UKIP opposes ‘plain paper packaging’ for tobacco products and minimum pricing of alcohol. (Measures backed by doctors and evidence that would make people healthier, but might affect some company profits)
– UKIP will withdraw from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights. (As a human, I'd like some rights)
– UKIP will require foreign vehicles to purchase a Britdisc, before entry to the UK, in order to contribute to the upkeep of UK roads and any lost fuel duty. (Yeah! Foreigners should pay for our roads if they drive on them. That would stop them coming over here, staying in our hotels, eating in our restaurants and spending their foreign money. And I assume they should charge us for using their roads as well?)
– UKIP will abolish green taxes and charges in order to reduce fuel bills.
– UKIP supports a diverse energy market including coal, nuclear, shale gas, geo-thermal, tidal, solar, conventional gas and oil.
– UKIP will repeal the Climate Change Act 2008 which costs the economy £18bn a year.
– UKIP will abolish the Department of Energy and Climate Change and scrap green subsidies.
(Yes, energy is too pricey but the energy companies still manage to make excessive profits. Global warming is coming and will be very, very expensive.)
– UKIP will abolish the Department for Culture Media and Sport. (Well, we've already had the Olympics, I suppose.)
– UKIP will cut the foreign aid budget by £9bn pa, prioritising disaster relief and schemes which provide water and inoculation against preventable diseases. (Foreign aid is good. It makes us slightly less unpopular abroad. With ebola, we've seen what happens if poor countries are kept poor and unable to manage crises such as deadly epidemics. Maybe it's just a nice thing for us to do.
The truth is that UKIP are misleading the electorate and are happy to allow people to think that voting for them will help them get a better life. A UKIP vote is one for the wealthy, not for ordinary people.
If you like, you can look at the Green Party's ideas. If you want to protest against the government or the Westminster Elite, there are choices other than UKIP. Yes, they like the environment, but they tie this in with the well-being of all people, not just the wealthy few. It's a far more positive message than that of UKIP. I wouldn't tell you who to vote for, but please check what the party you choose actually stands for before you make up your mind.
UKIP has been hit by scandal after scandal, but most of these stories seem to be quickly forgotten. Many members have some very backwards views on race and gender. They certainly care a lot about immigration. Immigration certainly bothers people, but it does have benefits. One of these is to low-pay employers, who can exploit them to make cheap goods. If they had to pay a living wage and treat workers fairly, they could no longer bring in cheap foreign labour to live in poor conditions. UK workers would be competitive and migrant workers wouldn't be 'stealing our jobs'.
Also remember that if we send all immigrants home, they might send all ours back.
UKIP want us to leave Europe and be free of all their pesky regulations. Regulations that affect our beloved corporations.
Only sometimes regulations are good. Corporations are robots. They are built to make money. They might be briefly not evil if that will result in them making money. If customers will only buy their stuff if they are good then they will respond to that. However, most of the time, people aren’t aware of the bad stuff they do, or there isn’t a choice, or they can’t afford to make the choice, so corporations will do whatever bad stuff they can get away with so long as it makes them money.
Often, the only thing stopping them doing this is regulation from national and supra-national bodies. The EU isn’t just about straightening bananas, it does all sorts of stuff for us including cheap flights, cheaper international phone calls, consumer protection, food safety and human rights. Yes, the European Convention on Human Rights is a good thing. Unless you like being a slave, discriminated against, or killed, or being told what to believe or being tortured etc. It just has some unintended consequences, as all regulations do.
It’s bodies like the EU that will be instrumental if we want people and companies to pay the tax they owe without stashing their cash in tax havens.
But one thing going on in Europe now might be about to make things a whole lot worse. Apparently that thing is called TTIP.
TTIP
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| A sticker on a bus |
I’d love to say I know what TTIP is, but, to be honest, I don’t. So what's the concern? Boris Johnson says I'm a 'numskull' for worrying about it. Thanks Boris. I'm not the only worrying, though. Here are some angry protesters.
When I say I don’t ‘know’ what TTIP is, I mean that I only know these brief details that have been leaked. The negotiations are actually happening in secret.
It’s supposed to be a free-trade agreement between the EU and the US.
The pitch:
To remove restrictions between the two areas to make it easier to invest.
To decrease bureaucracy and duplication of regulations, so companies only have to meet one set of rules when creating products and services.
To increase growth and create bazillions of jobs.
Brilliant.
So what’s everyone’s beef? Well, beef for one. If we harmonize food production rules, we might find Europe’s current safety standards lowered to those of America. Have you seen the state of an American chicken farm? Sardines in a can don’t know how lucky they are. The example often cited is the use of growth hormones to make cows bigger. Europe doesn’t allow this, America does. What’s wrong with grass and grain?
Ok, what else? Companies investing sounds good, right? Not necessarily if they are investing in our healthcare system. TTIP will make it easier for US companies to take over NHS contracts. Worse than that, they could sue governments if they are prevented from doing so. The corporations tout fair competition but they want to remove the NHS’s protection from predatory PLCs. Cameron has been asked to keep the NHS out of these discussions.
If you need reasons to be concerned about TTIP, try:
and
And if you agree that it sounds bad in it's current form, that we should be told more about it and that we should make sure that our safety standards and public services are corrected, then look at these petitions:
So, in summary...
Is it a contradiction to criticise UKIP's anti-Europe stance and the TTIP negotiations going on in Europe in the same post? Maybe. But maybe it's just that the world's a bit more complicated than 'Europe is bad for Britain' or 'immigration is too high'. It's the nuances of these debates that are more important than the headlines.
Think long and hard before you vote UKIP. It is unlikely that all your problems are because of immigration, it's just a simple and visible thing to make you scared about. If you care about the rest of UKIP's policies, then please read them and decide if they would benefit you and really make Britain the kind of country you want it to be.
The world has changed and Britain isn't in charge any more. Our own well-being is tied up with that of the rest of the world. Maybe there's more to life than being the most powerful country and reducing inequality within our own country would make us all happier. If we do want a say on the world stage, then it's hard to do it alone and being part of Europe has many more benefits than drawbacks.
We need to engage with Europe and hold it to account. Sometimes it is too expensive. When things are going wrong, such as with TTIP, we need to know about it and do something about it. The alternative could be disastrous.
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