A Lack Of Opposition

On Friday I posted an article entitled The Continuation of Failure in which I argued that the Conservative party was no longer a true opposition to our current Labour administration due to a complete lack of differentiating policies.

Now, if both Labour and the Conservative party support our membership of the European Union (which they both very much do) then they also by extension support the 70% to 80% of new laws, regulations and bureaucratic dictates that are issued by our real government presiding in Brussels.

Labour and the Conservatives can claim that they disagree with individual directives and EU legislation, but at the end of the day they have to accept it (and willingly do so) because that is how the EU works. You cannot pick and chose which policies and laws you adhere to; it’s all in or stay out. There is no in between.

Thus, given that neither Labour nor the Conservatives are prepared to advocated a policy of EU withdrawal, this already indicates a clear majority of agreement between the two parties – and that is without even taking into account their similarity on the national domestic issues over which our Westminster administration still has some miniscule level of control.

On domestic issues David Cameron has said he might give Parliament a ‘free vote’ on the repeal of the Hunting Act 2005 or ‘let sunshine win the day’ (whatever that might mean), but has pledged nothing meaningfully or substantially different to what our Labour administration are currently undertaking.

Click here to continue reading the article…

Democratic Legitimacy

With violence and the intimidation of voters increasing by the day in Zimbabwe, leader of the MDC, Morgan Tsvangirai has announced that he will not contest the Presidential run-off because a fair vote is now virtually impossible.

Politicians in the West have been very quick to condemn the tyrannical regime of Robert Mugabe and the apparent illegitimacy of his continued rule. Gordon Brown has on numerous occasions criticised the lack of legitimacy with which Mugabe has managed to cling onto office in Zimbabwe.

Similarly, our Foreign Secretary, David Miliband made a statement to reporters and the media in which he commented:

We face a critical crisis of legitimacy because it’s clear that the only people with any shred of legitimacy are the people who won the March 29th first round and that was the opposition.

The problem is that Gordon Brown and David Miliband wouldn’t know what democratic legitimacy was if it came up and punched them in the face (which quite a few people would like to do).

By ramming the Lisbon Treaty through Parliament without the referendum they promised, which was arguably illegitimate and undemocratic, Mr Brown and Miliband have proven that they are prepared to condemn the lack of democratic legitimacy in Zimbabwe without upholding such values themselves.

Click here to continue reading the article…

EU To Ban Eurosceptic Groups

Writing in the Telegraph on Tuesday, Bruno Waterfield uncovered fresh plans by MEPs to eliminate eurosceptics as an organised opposition within the European Parliament.

Richard North continued the story by pointing out that the affect of amending these parliamentary rules will probably be to prevent David Cameron from forming a new eurosceptic group as he had pledged during his party leadership campaign and breaking away from the EPP-ED.

Gawain Towler also talks us through the procedure of how the vote came to pass and the way in which Europhile Tory MEP, Timothy Kirkhope helped Labour’s Richard Corbett escape defeat. Whether this was intentional on Mr Kirkhope’s part is open to debate – though he had ample motivation since he has been against Cameron’s pledge to leave the EPP-ED from the start.

Rather sadly, a significant number of people in politics and the media (who probably should know much better) continue to have a fairly rose-tinted view of what they would like the European Union to be, rather than acknowledge what it has actually become. Despite all evidence to the contrary they persist in believing the Union to be a free trading area when it is not; a bastion of democratic ideals when it is not, and a co-operative but loose association of sovereign nations when it is not.

The sole aim of the EU’s fore-fathers and subsequent torch bearers always has and always will be ‘ever closer union’ and political integration. As a consequence EU institutions and supporters will not tolerate any dissent against their grand project which they have spent so much time and effort slowly constructing, and will often break their own rules of procedure simply to evade any semblance of democratic opposition.

Click here to continue reading the article…

Engineering The Vote

Despite the title this article does not concern the ongoing elections saga throughout Zimbabwe in which President Robert Mugabe may attempt to rig the result in a desperate effort to cling onto power for another consecutive term.

No, unfortunately this post once again concerns the Conservative MEP selections and the continuing discontent being voiced by party members over its rules and procedure.

This dissatisfaction has rumbled on for over a year since the central party hierarchy proclaimed that incumbent MEPs would automatically top any selection list and the top ranking woman in any vote would automatically receive preferential treatment.

Since the selection count on Friday the Conservative party has bowed to pressure and publicly released the figures by which candidates were ranked and selected. The results show that despite a number of women receiving fewer votes than their equivalent male candidates, they were still ranked more highly in the final process. Unfair? Yes. Unexpected? No.

Yet, in a few regions female candidates such as Jacqueline Foster and Anthea McIntyre topped their respective ballots on their own merit without it would seem any required or unwanted intervention. These results therefore prove that women, regardless of their gender, can outperform male candidates in a vote if they are deserving.

Click here to continue reading the article…