An alternative manifesto
Ken Veitch reflects on the kind of society he would like to live in
Theresa May described the 2017 general election, a few weeks before it was held, as ‘the most important election this country has faced in my lifetime’. She hoped it would produce a ‘strong and stable government that works for every one of us’ – but I was not convinced. I fear I was right.
At the time, I produced my own manifesto. My policies would be funded in two ways.
First, a one-off tax of four per cent on the very wealthiest people in the UK, coupled with a cap on profits of banks and big corporations. This would eliminate at a stroke the need for ‘austerity’.
Second, I would save tens of billions by cancelling Trident, the UK’s own weapon of mass destruction. It is morally wrong, financially unaffordable, and breaches the UK’s undertaking, under the 1970 Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, to work for ‘general and complete disarmament’.
Trident also binds us to the foreign and military policies of the United States, which provides the UK with an ever-greater amount of weaponry and associated technology, including the missiles and servicing for Trident.
I would reallocate the scientific skills currently expended on Trident and development of other war materials to ‘smart’ transport systems, medical projects and energy conservation. I would stop UK participation in foreign wars, withdraw from NATO, and declare neutrality, like Austria.
UK schools, gravely underfunded and starved of staff and resources, are begging donations from parents to buy books and pencils. All schools, with highly qualified teachers and careers advisers, would be under local authority control, with a maximum class size of twenty, and regular special and updating courses for all staff and managers. There would be much more attention in schools to technical and vocational training, and to foreign languages, including Chinese.
Private profit-making would have no place in the National Health Service. Staffing levels and skills would obviate long waiting times and improve treatment and recovery. Life-saving drugs would be universally available as needed and not dependent on a ‘postcode lottery’. Those leaving hospital would be sure of immediate quality care by properly paid and trained staff from Social Services.
There would be an end to the huge disparity of central government funding to councils in the south and north of England, and to zero-hours contracts. Employees would be treated with fairness and respect. I would abolish our antiquated honours system with one single award ‘for public service’.
Railways would be renationalised. HS2 would be cancelled and more money found for rural and town cycleways, improvement of parks, woodlands and rivers, and leisure activities for all ages. There would be more emphasis on recycling and prevention of litter and various forms of pollution. Music schools, orchestras, theatres and libraries would be properly resourced.
Our prisons are in a shocking condition, with record levels of violence and reoffending. I would model our penal system on that of Norway, which is far more enlightened and ultimately less costly.
Spiritual and cultural values are being subverted by the relentless drive for ‘efficiency’ and money. We can’t pass a law to make our national life less materialistic and less divisive than it is. However, hope remains in the words of Jo Cox, the Yorkshire MP who was murdered in her constituency last year. She said: ‘While we celebrate our diversity… we are far more united and have far more in common with each other than the things that divide us’.
I would inscribe these words boldly at the entrance to parliament and other public buildings.
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