Ten Points for Action
- London GLC Election Leaflet 1970
See Also : Taxation | Monetary
Policy | Finance | Election
Leaflet |
1. Action to Build Houses
We want action to solve the housing problem. It should be taken
out of the hands of local authorities and entrusted to Government leadership,
with powers to mass produce houses and flats like an "operation
of war", turning out homes as arms and munitions were mass-produced
in time of war.
2. Stop the Land and Rent Rackets
GIVE the Government power to acquire land at pre-boom prices and to finance
housing by low-interest loans, paid for by high-interest charges on all
non-essential and luxury building. Such action would bring down house
prices and rents and at last provide good but cheap housing for all.
3. Stop Immigration - Start Repatriation
WE WANT ACTION to ease the pressure on housing and other social problems
(like the reintroduction of diseases unknown in Britain for hundreds
of years) by stopping all further immigration and by repatriating all
post-war immigrants to good jobs and conditions in their homelands,
to which prosperity had been restored by using the surplus wealth
and production
of united Europe. But Britain could make a start now, before the complete
union of Europe is achieved. REMEMBER that
we have been advocating this policy since 1952, long before any of these
now saying the same sort of thing—without the means
to carry it out.
4. A Choice in Education and
Health
WE WANT ACTION to build good schools, colleges, universities and
hospitals, just as we would mass produce houses and flats. Parents
should have
a choice of schools for their children. We should not be taxed
to provide those health services we will never use (maternity benefits
for confirmed
bachelors!) but free to pay in proportion to our requirements.
5. Free Speech - Law and Order
WE WANT ACTION to ensure freedom of speech for everyone, guaranteed
by the Government, which has a duty to maintain law and order
in the State
and to take effective action against mob violence, which today
denies freedom of expression to any views of which its agitators
disapprove.
Let us maintain local police forces with their local knowledge
and experience, but let us supplement them with a highly-trained,
well-equipped,
mobile
national police force, to put down organised crime and to maintain
public order. WE would ensure freedom of the Press for both newspapers and
the public. Any man who felt himself misrepresented in the Press
should
be guaranteed
(by law) equal space to reply in the newspaper concerned. This
would free the public from the expense of seeking justice through
costly
libel action and free the newspapers from the legal blackmail
of a threatened
libel action by some unscrupulous racketeer.
6. Capital Punishment
THE death penalty should be restored to the statute book, to
be used sparingly in the case of premeditated murder. The Court
of
Appeal
should have a solemn duty to recommend a reprieve if in any
doubt. The sentence
could be carried out not by hanging, but by a quick and painless,
injection or by some other humane method.
7. Action in Europe
TO put these policies into practice Britain must advance beyond
the concept of a so-called united Europe and Common Market
to which the
Conservative
Party has at last been converted and which the Labour Party
still opposes. We must advance quickly to "Europe a Nation", which we have
advocated since 1948. We stand for a union of all Europe, our former
white Dominions and southern Africa, a great "third force" in
the world, independent of both America and Russia.
This "third force" should have
a central government for its defence, the economy, finance and scientific
development, with power
to raise wages and control prices as production increases
for a guaranteed market, insulated against unfair competition from
the rest of the world.
We need a European army, equipped with the most modern
weapons, to defend our continent against attack from any quarter. This
should be financed
on a European budget,
instead of each small country straining its economy to
finance its own defence.
8. National and Regional Governments
THERE should be independent national and regional governments
for each European country and the main regions. This
would enable England,
Wales,
Scotland, Ireland and other European countries and regions
to have their own parliaments for internal affairs and
for the preservation
of their
national and regional cultures.
9. The Irish Problem
THE ultimate solution to the Irish problem is the union
of that country within a united Europe. But the bloodshed
must
first
be brought to
an end by a free vote on a county basis in each of
the Six Counties and
a subsequent readjustment of the border. The bulk of
the Catholic population in the North would then be
ruled (as
is their wish)
from Dublin, with
a lessening of present tensions, the I.R.A. would lose
it bases in the North and the British Army would have
a much
shorter
border to
patrol
against infiltration from the South. In this improved
situation agreement could more easily be reached on
the eventual
union of Ireland, with
the rights of the then Protestant minority protected
and guaranteed by European
government.
10. Government of National Union
WE STAND for a government of national union and effective
action, drawn from the whole nation, from the professions
and the trade
unions, arts
and science, the law and the armed forces. Government
elected by the whole people alone should govern.
It should have
power to lead
the
economy, raising wages and controlling prices as
science increased production.
Then we will have co-operation instead of conflict
in industry.
WE WANT ACTION to halt the "brain drain" and to arouse a new
spirit of national service in our British people, by relating all reward
directly to skill, effort, initiative and responsibility. There should
be "great reward for great service", crowned by higher pensions
drawn from the wealth of the new economic system, as the reward in old
age for those who had loyally served the nation throughout their lives.
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