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The current economic situation Posted 5-August-2009
The UK is running a large Balance of Payments deficit. We import approximately £50bn more goods annually than we export. Worse, we import half the food we eat and are reliant on foreign sources for energy. Most manufactured goods are now imported. In addition to this public expenditure exceeds tax revenues by a large and increasing amount.
This is not a situation which can continue indefinitely. The only reason that this is not causing more obvious problems is that the deficit is being financed by the sale of government bonds thus providing us with the foreign exchange we need for our basic purchases. In effect we are in the situation of someone who owns a £300,000 house, then decides to sell the house, give up his job and live on £30,000 p.a. for the next 10 years. This is fine for 10 years, but what happens when the money runs out? And this is what is happening now to this country.
The only reason there has not been a serious sterling crisis is that economists are already assuming Labour will lose the next election and a Conservative government will bring back strong measures to correct the Balance of Payments deficit (as well as the other deficits within the economy).
The above has been stated numerous times in the financial press. What gets less publicity is the point that there are 2 ways of restoring balance to the UK economy. What might be called the path of austerity and the path of hard work. The Conservatives are planning large cuts in public expenditure. However they have no viable plans to generate jobs in the real economy. For a variety of reasons their commitment to EU membership makes it extremely difficult to create such jobs without being accused of excessive interference in the so-called free market. Thus their plans are likely to result in many living at subsistence levels for several years and high taxes for those fortunate enough to keep their jobs.
Yet this austerity path is not the only option. By taking active measures to create jobs in the real economy, re-establishing self-sufficiency in energy supplies and expanding the infrastructure, abolishing the ludicrous set-aside demanded by the EU’s Common Agricultural Policy and a number of other measures including serious banking reform, it is possible to re-establish a favourable balance of payments.
This is not an overnight task; it will have to be done over several years and will quite literally involve hard work by the people of this country. UKIP is the only party which can extricate us from our economically disastrous predicament. The Conservatives cannot offer this policy because the EU would not let them, and even if a Conservative Government were to leave the EU the party itself is too much in thrall to the city and the large corporations to undertake the necessary measures.
And here lies UKIP’s real strength. We must put across the message that the only way of restoring lasting prosperity to this country is to follow the EU withdrawal we all realise is necessary with policies to regenerate the real economy.
Euro Election Results and our General Election Strategy.
UKIP Croydon Committee would first like to thank all the members and supporters of UKIP Croydon for the help they gave, either in providing financial assistance, or in leafleting or in any other way.
Our results in the Euro election in increasing its total number of seats in the European Parliament from 12 to 13, in spite of a reduction in the total number of seats given to the U.K., were better than even the most optimistic of us might have hoped for. At the same time, we must not be complacent about the situation. Having MEPs in Brussels is in itself of no great significance as they have very little power anyway.
The main significance of the result is that it confirms the undercurrent of support for the policy for which we are mainly known, namely leaving the EU. It is of real value only if we can build on this support by showing that we are not a single issue pressure group but can put forward properly thought out policies to improve the quality of life of the people of this country.
Britain is now entering a severe economic recession. Contrary to what many economic commentators and political pundits say, we are not over the worst of the recession. In fact the recession has only just begun. The reason one can say this so confidently lies in an examination of the various public and private debt overhangs that remain unresolved within the economy. It is essential to develop policies which will pull us out of the recession as quickly as possible and restore reasonable levels of employment to all areas of the economy.
UKIP has already made a very good start on defining such policies as you can see in our ‘UKIP Economic Policy’ section on our home page. These are policies which are both excellent in their own right, and also which cannot be stolen from us by any of the so-called major political parties because EU controls combined with the sheer drain on finances caused by our EU membership, would not allow them to be implemented.
The task that now lies ahead is to let the public know of these policies and to convince everyone that these are the only realistic way forward. Labour’s plan for progress seems to consist of borrowing even more. This will just postpone an even more severe crisis with the likelihood of a serious collapse in the value of sterling within a year. The Conservatives only plan seems to be to involve the country in high levels of austerity and high unemployment for several years ahead as it has no serious plans for the creation of genuine jobs on a large scale.
If we can get this message across to the general public we have a genuine chance of significant gains at the coming General Election, whenever that is.
Practical Policies that will improve the quality of life and standard of living of the people of the U.K.
If you voted Labour, Conservative, Lib-Dem or Green at the last election, then go to our 'Lib-Lab-Con' page to see what the consequences of your electing these M.P.s to Parliament have been and will continue to be.
UKIP believes this country should be run for the benefit of the people of this country, not for the benefit of a small elite of not particularly intelligent politicians.
2009 March week 1 policy. Eliminate Politically correct non-jobs from local and national government.
Much public money is being spent on politically correct non-jobs in which civil servants are paid considerable salaries to push forward a government political agenda, e.g. diversity awareness officers employed by the government which achieve nothing useful and are believed by many to fan the flames of racism. UKIP’s answer: abolish these jobs.
2009 February week 3 policy. Abolish politically correct quotas.
In many sections of public life the work is not being assigned to those best able to carry it out but to meet quotas concerning gender, age or ethnicity. A dangerous example of this is the insistence that each local fire service should employ at least one female 'fireperson'. This is insulting to women and could result in deaths both amongst the public and in the fire service itself. UKIP would stop this nonsense.
2009 February week 1 policy. Repeal the Human Rights Act.
The Human Rights Act protects criminals and damages the interests of law abiding citizens. It makes it difficult, sometimes impossible, to send illegal immigrants, even when they have committed serious crimes, back to their home countries. UKIP would repeal this obscene piece of legislation and revert to the British Legal system implemented by trial by jury for serious offences, which works for the benefit of the ordinary law abiding citizen.
This would mean police time could be spent more effectively in preventing and detecting crime, it would save us money by enabling us to deport foreign criminals at the end of their sentences and would make the streets of this country much safer.
2009 January 2009 Week 3 Policy. Bring back University Grants for the children of British Citizens.
Grants for the children of British citizens had to be abolished because, had they been retained whilst we are in the EU, we would have been compelled under EU law to offer the same grants to all EU citizens. The result has been that a large proportion of our young people start their working life saddled with debts which they find it difficult to pay off.
It has paradoxically also disproportionately benefited E.U. students since they are equally entitled to claim the student loan which, unlike our children, they are then able to avoid paying back since there is no mechanism in any other E.U. countries for repayment from salaries as is the case in the UK. Thus while our students are saddled with monstrous debts, E.U. students effectively get the grants our students are denied.
2009 January 2009 Week 1 Policy. A grammar school in every town.
Research shows that children from poor backgrounds do particularly well at grammar school; they are actually a move towards a more genuinely egalitarian society. Their abolition in many areas has meant that many children from less privileged backgrounds have failed to realise their potential. It has resulted in ‘postcode selection’ where, in practice, only children from wealthier backgrounds can have grammar school standard education as their parents are able to buy properties in the catchment area of the best comprehensive schools.
2008 December week 3 policy.Introduce a flat tax policy.
Introduce a Flat Tax with a tax free allowance of £9,000 p.a. and merging income tax and National Insurance Contributions. This would give an immediate boost to low income earners and simplify the system. In addition to this the change would be a substantial move towards reducing the benefits trap into which so many of our population have now been sucked.
2008 December week 1 policy. Cut council tax by abolishing the GLA
For the Croydon Council tax band C the Greater London Assembly precept now accounts for £275.40 per annum of the total annual council tax bill of £1249.45. This could be substantially reduced by abolishing the GLA. Of course there are some decisions which must be made on a London wide basis but it is not necessary for there to be a permanent highly paid bureaucracy to do this.
2008 November week 4 policy. Cut council tax by culling quangos.
A quango is an organisation which is substantially funded by the public but lacks direct accountability to elected councillors or other elected politicians. Often they refer to themselves as independent government funded bodies. Many could be scrapped. Some do work which is useful but could be done at a fraction of the cost under direct council control. This is because they will usually be run by highly paid ‘chief executives’ who simply delegate the day to day work to subordinates. UKIP will get rid of many quangos and bring the running of others under direct council control simultaneously saving money and re-establishing accountability to the public which finances them.
2008 November week 3 policy. Reduce the average family's shopping bill by £20 per week. Do this by withdrawing from the Common Fisheries policy and the Common Agricultural Policy.
Withdrawal from the CFP will enable our fishermen to sell to their countrymen fish they are now having to throw back into the sea. Withdrawal from CAP will also enable us to import cheaper and frequently better quality agricultural produce from Commonwealth countries that can currently be imported only on payment of tariffs.
2008 November week 2 policy. Drop the ID Card. Spend the money saved on more police and more prison places and to control our borders against drugs and the entry of illegal immigrants.
The Id Card System will cost tens of billions of pounds to introduce and billions annually to maintain. The money saved from this can be used for more police on the streets and for more customs officers to bring back control to our borders.
2008 November week 1 policy: UKIP policy on Post Offices. Stop Post Office closures and encourage re-opening of closed Post Offices.
Ask the Labour, Conservative or Lib-Dem parties what their policy is on this.
If they say they would adopt the same policy, then they are being economical with the truth. For existing Post Offices to remain open, and the re-opening of closed ones, it is necessary to re-establish grants, and to protect them from unfair competition. Neither of these actions is allowed under EU law, so this policy can be implemented only by a party committed to leaving the EU.
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And I Quote ......
Economic and monetary union is the central part of the project for European unification. It is of course, the highest and purest form of integration.
Karl Lamers, Chancellor Kohl's Spokesman
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