Tories and their opportunistic policy decisions again.

Anthony Butcher · 24-10-2004, 06:23 PM

There is an article in today's Mail on Sunday that states that the Tory party have promised to reduce the number of MPs to significantly cut the cost of the British Parliament. Of course, this "policy" has been announced the day after the MP expense accounts were published and a few papers decided to kick up a stink.

Once again, the Tories demonstrate that their policies are not decided by careful thought and they are not based on strongly held principles. Their policies are whatever they think will win them votes on any particular day.

They have accused the Lib Dems of doing just this for years in local elections, but the Tories have now made it their primary national policy decision system. Genuine Conservatives should be ashamed to be associated with this opportunistic nonsense. What happened to real conservative values?

I bet that we could even start to predict Tory policy 24 hours before it is announced, simply by watching the headlines in the Daily Mail.

Anthony Butcher · 25-10-2004, 04:47 AM

Telegraph Article

Quote:

More than 100 MPs could be ousted from the House of Commons under cost-cutting proposals revealed yesterday by the Conservatives.

The plan would see the number of sitting members fall to about 550 from the current 659. With each MP costing more than £200,000 a year in salary, pension and expenses, the cut could save taxpayers £20 million a year, the Tories claimed.

mkpdavies · 25-10-2004, 01:17 PM

While I agree with your point that they have knee-jerked their policy to try to gain favour. I still actualy think it is a good policy.

The best ideas come off the back of fag packets on occasion. Anything to shrink the size of government to a more reasonable level is good for me. Push more powers back to the councils who know their towns particular needs and concerns.

Thats whats worries me at the moment though. The Tories are saying all the right things to gain favour, a lot of people will probably believe them. The fact they tell lies seems to get forgotten.

Anthony Butcher · 25-10-2004, 01:37 PM

I would have had a lot more respect for the policy if it had been launched months ago, rather than because they could get some cheap publicity from it.

I actually think that it is a terrible idea. Government is already poorly representative of the actual views of the public, and the larger the constituencies, the more likely we are to end up with a two party system.

I put forward a policy suggestion for UKIP about improving the election of MPs, to offer better representation through partial proportional representation:
http://www.ukipforum.co.uk/about130.html

I don't actually see a problem with MPs expenses. I am just surprised that they aren't all claiming the maximum allowed on everything. The expenses are set at limits sensible for them to do their jobs. Obviously some will take advantage of that, just like in any other job, but there are many more pressing concerns with wasted money, like the EU for instance.

24-10-2004, 06:23 PM	#1 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 10,193 Party: None	Tories and their opportunistic policy decisions again. There is an article in today's Mail on Sunday that states that the Tory party have promised to reduce the number of MPs to significantly cut the cost of the British Parliament. Of course, this "policy" has been announced the day after the MP expense accounts were published and a few papers decided to kick up a stink. Once again, the Tories demonstrate that their policies are not decided by careful thought and they are not based on strongly held principles. Their policies are whatever they think will win them votes on any particular day. They have accused the Lib Dems of doing just this for years in local elections, but the Tories have now made it their primary national policy decision system. Genuine Conservatives should be ashamed to be associated with this opportunistic nonsense. What happened to real conservative values? I bet that we could even start to predict Tory policy 24 hours before it is announced, simply by watching the headlines in the Daily Mail.

25-10-2004, 01:17 PM	#3 (permalink)
mkpdavies Uber Member Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Woking Posts: 31,150 Party: Libertarian Party	While I agree with your point that they have knee-jerked their policy to try to gain favour. I still actualy think it is a good policy. The best ideas come off the back of fag packets on occasion. Anything to shrink the size of government to a more reasonable level is good for me. Push more powers back to the councils who know their towns particular needs and concerns. Thats whats worries me at the moment though. The Tories are saying all the right things to gain favour, a lot of people will probably believe them. The fact they tell lies seems to get forgotten. __________________ http://brits4ronpaul.blogspot.com/ http://wokinglibertarians.blogspot.com/ http://lpuk.org My ignore list Labour, Blue Labour, Lib Dems

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25-10-2004, 01:37 PM	#4 (permalink)
Anthony Butcher Administrator Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: Long Ashton, Bristol Posts: 10,193 Party: None	I would have had a lot more respect for the policy if it had been launched months ago, rather than because they could get some cheap publicity from it. I actually think that it is a terrible idea. Government is already poorly representative of the actual views of the public, and the larger the constituencies, the more likely we are to end up with a two party system. I put forward a policy suggestion for UKIP about improving the election of MPs, to offer better representation through partial proportional representation: http://www.ukipforum.co.uk/about130.html I don't actually see a problem with MPs expenses. I am just surprised that they aren't all claiming the maximum allowed on everything. The expenses are set at limits sensible for them to do their jobs. Obviously some will take advantage of that, just like in any other job, but there are many more pressing concerns with wasted money, like the EU for instance.