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edscoble-
Why? Doesn’t that mean theyre trying to be in power for more than 5 years?
Before the FTPA, Parliaments were restricted to five years. It is a cumbersome and unnecessary piece of legislation that has done nothing to stop snap elections being called. It is a statute that should never have been enacted. The concern is that when it is repealed it will be replaced, not by what was there before but by something worse
cliveo
So with so much doom and gloom around before Christmas, let me bring you more.
The genius of the Tory campaign was to avoid and detail; scrutiny or challenge. Their campaign was run on the basis of a slogan, attacking Labour and avoiding scrutiny. Their manifesto is a blank cheque.
Johnson faces a problem. Brexit, however it is done now, will depress the economy. He will not have the funds to spend as he has promised and make tax cuts. To get around this, he needs to fail to negotiate a trade deal with the EU. This will allow him to blame every negative economic occurrence on the EU's intransigence. It also frees him to give Bannon the US trade deal that Trump wants.
Once this is achieved, he can freeze and cut spending. He can plan all sorts of elaborate spending on infrastructure projects but never actually start them. Again, blame can be placed on the EU or local authorities or environmentalists. He will also be able to slip in a rise in VAT to 25%. Indrect taxation affects the less well off more than the well off.
One area that is covered in the manifesto is the constitution. The FTPA goes (good) but it will be replaced by something that gives more power to the executive and less scrutiny to the courts or Parliament. Constituency boundaries will be redrawn. This has been in the offing since Cameron. The plan is to reduce the number of MPs from 650 to 600. This is based on the electoral register of six or so years ago. The surge in registrations lately has altered the relevance of the old register and allows the boundaries to be changed in a way to benefit the Tories. This is a really serious issue.
He may also seek other gerrymandering under the guise of putting into effect non specific manifesto promises. The House of Lords, the Royal Prerogative, the Supreme Court.
The Human Rights Act will be repealed.
The BBC and the media also come in for scrutiny. Expect the requirement of impartiality to be watered down particularly if the BBC is to be broken up and sold off. Whatever your complaints about BBC bias are, expect worse when it is sold at a cutdown price to Fox News.
The Civil Service also comes in for an overhaul making more positions overtly political. Ambassadors and leading Civil Servants will be required to toe the party line. Rising Civil Servants will find their careers thrawted if they do not.
But, I hear you cry, these changes will also allow a future Labour Government to control the media, the Civil Service and the judiciary. Believe me, if these changes come in, the political infrastructure of the country will be such that we will not see a Labour government in my lifetime and probably not in yours.
Oh, and ignore the current media theme of Johnson being a one nation Tory. He might be but Bannon and Cummings are not. They win.
Happy days.
And a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to you all. As Emily Thornberry said, "the fight starts now". It is going to be one hell of a fight and the odds are stacked against us.