A drastic change if needed for UK Political Structure (LONG THREAD)

The urgent need to change in UK political environment is more than ever prevalent today. It is my belief that civics should be evolving. Yet more and more I see evidence that the powers that run our country are not best suited for the job. This may be a fairly long post, but the argument to present to you about the UK Political system is vast and as you can see, in urgent need of reformation.
Politicians are meant to have the best interest of the people at heart, but the shear number of amateur blunders caused by unskilled and unreliable dysfunctional people are putting the once good nation of Britain under huge threat.

Working in the private sector myself, its hard to comprehend how our government agencies get away with making the errors they do. IF I were to make errors such as some of the ones listed below, I would be sacked. Not only that, the company I work for would go under. Therefore, it is up to me and my company to make sure that we have the right SKILL and EDUCATION and Knowledge resources in place to make sure that no huge costly mistakes are made.

Why? Mistakes cost money, money helps keep the business’s going. I find it shocking that so many government agencies have no clue about how to manage money and seem to pilfer our tax pounds and use it like it were an endless source. Wasting our money through mismanagement of the UK, through bad budget control, through reckless spending on Public Sector projects.

Again, being in a sales role I often have to sell to the Public Sector in the UK, be it schools or local government or departments. In almost every case the people making the purchasing decisions do not have a clue. They misspend our tax money by the billions, and cost the UK industry and Tax Payer huge sums of money, just planning what they might do.

Example Blunder 1 – PFI (Private finance initiative) – The Inland Revenue sold over 700 buildings to Mapperly PLC in Guernsey, which was meant to save the tax payer over a Billion in savings from maintenance (Mapperly PLC have then rented the properties back to the Government which is now costing more than we spent in the first place). However, it now appears that the IR did not even know that Mapperly PLC were based in Guernsey where Tax at the time could not be paid on profits, and Mapperly ended up funnelling all our tax payers money each year to the Virgin Islands which are a tax haven. Although legal, the Labour government has harped on for years about how tax havens damage the UK economy because so many businesses can take money from the UK and funnel it elsewhere in the world.

What’s worrying, is that when you read the minutes from the meetings where the heads of the Inlands revenue where discussed the blunder they said they did not have the commercial skills to deal with this project and that they did not even know that Guernsey was abroad??!?!. WHAT!!

Example 2 – PFI - "The Child Support Agency revealed that the PFI consortium involving US computer giant EDS is running over a year late and £50m over budget in supplying a £220m IT system. GMB general secretary John Edmonds said: 'I can't believe the government didn't learn from the DSS and passport fiascos and are now putting British families at risk. The government overrun on PFI IT projects has already topped £1bn.'" [Unison Companies Update, September 2002]


[edit on 2-3-2010 by Pax et Intellectus]

Example 3 – IT Projects under Labour – Several well documented computer system projects have cost...yes that’s right cost the UK Tax payer £26 Billion. These are said to be down to incompetence in the public sector, and I would happen to agree. How can we trust people who make mistakes over and over and over again that have cost us 26 billion and no heads are rolling? Link: www.independent.co.uk...

Again. In the private sector this would lead to an entire company collapsing and hundreds of staff being laid off. But, in the public sector people have been getting away with this now for years and years.
So the questions for me are:-

1) Is the current UK political system fit for purpose?
2) Are the people in the UK government and who run governmental departments actually fit for the job? Do they have the right knowledge and skill and education?

I think these types of questions need to be answered in todays world with the UKs national debt at now 60% of GDP (£834 Billion) which is expected to rise to 100% by 2012 . The UK is basically broke and will not be liquid for much longer. And the question of whether the UK is run by the right people, recently the UK government has been hit be a scandal about some of the MP’s from Scotland , England and Wales being linked to a paedophile ring.

Let alone the Tax Payers being robbed by the expenses scandal.
And what of statistical measurement. Do you know that the way statistics covering crime and education are changed every year. Meaning that it is impossible to get a clear unbiased view of crime and education in the UK. The government change things so they can show the figures that back up their argument.

1) So lets look at question 1 to start with - Is the current UK political system fit for purpose?
For those of you who don’t know how the UK parliament works here are a few pointers:-
- The UK is Bicameral meaning that we have two controlling legislative powers. (House of Lords and House of Commons)
- The House of Lords is the home of the UK Elite. These are unelected elites, who have either inherited their position or earned it by sucking up to people in the House of Commons or donating to parties. This part of Parliament is also home to the Spiritual seat of the UK. Made up only from the Church of England. There are over 700 active members....unelected.
- The House of Commons – This is where the main power of the UK Lies. The commons is contains members from constituents, directly and democratically elected to position. There are 646 members of the Commons. The people here are the MP’s from local regions all across the UK who are locally elected and then take their place in a national role.

Here is my first problem with UK politics. House of lords has very very little power in the UK. But bear in mind we still have to pay £150 million each year to keep this house going. So why bother. These are the commercial and aristocrat elite and inherited wealth from the UK, they serve no purpose now and never really have. However, they align themselves to certain parties and certain times to help push a bill or a vote through. I can’t imagine that the house of lords can possibly have our best interests at heart. They have not earned the right to serve, they have purchased the right to serve. Also, The Lords Spiritual, which is made up only from Church of England Members, are these are fair representation of the UK. The UK is made up of a mix of religions and ethnicity, so how can the Church of England (Which is not even a proper religion) best a representation of the UK Public.

We can assume as well that these elites don’t have power, but someone somewhere here is getting the benefit. House of Lords members may also be financial donators to the UK Political Parties, so you can buy yourself a seat.


[edit on 2-3-2010 by Pax et Intellectus]

My Idea would be to kill off the House of Lords. An unelected group can not serve the interest of a democratic society . They are so far removed from society that it is hard to see what Value a 100% elite house can offer. However, the idea of having a 2nd house that just keeps watch on the House of Commons is a good idea. But it must be representative of the people of the UK.
The 2nd House should be made up of other political parties and each party I think should be allotted a few seats, say 10 each. This means that fringe parties (Like Green Peace) can still sit on our government and have some say in the UK. It also might mean that fringe parties can effect UK politics from which they can’t currently do. I would like to see this because Labour, Lib Dem and Conservatives to me seem all the same. They don’t have anything to offer the UK which is why I have not voted in a long time. We are seeing more policy creation coming from people who are not fit for purpose and don’t have the right skills. Simple as that. We need a wider net, a more versatile range of skills in government. We the people need to see more fringe parties gaining more power to act as a balance.
The House should also be made up of us, Joe Public. We need to see Teachers, Nurses, Heads of Business and commerce, Charities and other members all having a say in the 2nd House. This will give the Commons a great grounding and enable a wider range of views , skills and opinions to enter into UK politics.
Powers would be changes as well, the 2nd house can still continue to vote as they do now, and block or veto Commons Rulings. But they should be given the power to propose legislation. At least this way I think that a mixed house from many walks of life would propose legislation that was not party political, and might actually be of some use. The 2nd house will act as a voice for the people, who don’t have a voice at the moment. Constituent MP’s may come through the ranks, but I think the job of being an MP makes it very difficult for them to stay on top of everything. So they could have a clone if you like in the 2nd house who can stay closer to public opinion.
The Lords Spiritual should be scrapped and replaced with a Council of the Spirit. This will be made up of members from all UK religions and Spiritual groups. It simply won’t do to have only the C of E as our only guidance in government . The Lords Spiritual have no voice in parliament anyway, but I think we need spiritual representation across all religions. The other argument of course would be to abolish all religious involvement in politics and do away all together with the Lords Spiritual.

The last question I want to put forward is - Are the people in the UK government and who run governmental departments actually fit for the job? Do they have the right knowledge and skill and education?
In my thoughts no.
Its is clear, by the shear number of errors (Thats just the ones you here about) that the public sector does not contain the same level of drive, motivation and knowledge and skill as the private sector. Not to say the private sector does not cock up, or have ethics problems. But we should think that the Public Sector workers are the best of the best.....but they are not.

What I would like to see by all UK political parties is that they either educate their staff to the required level, or have a much better HR System. I mean one day, an MP from Norwich, who worked in his local bar for 5 years pulling pints, goes into politics and get elected as a local MP. Then within a few years their party wins power and hey presto the barman is suddenly the head of the MOD with a £50 Billion budget and thousands of staff.
You can see the problem here. Its like employing your cleaner to become the CEO of Virgin Airways. There is a huge skill and knowledge gap to jump. Yet this is how the political process works.
Yes, politics should be open to the common person so we have equal and fair representation. But, the common person without the right skills should not end up in charge of an entire department.
I think that that there are several ways around the epic skills shortage and they could be a combination of the below:-
1)Parties must recruit from UK industry i.e. You are looking for someone to be the next head of education....then find a head teacher. ....or....
2) Party MP’s should be trained in a field. So if you join the Conservatives and work your way up the ladder so that you are going to become a head of education or the NHS, then you should maybe work for a few years in that industry and take part in training so you understand the complexities of the industry , people and budget management.
3) Cabinet Reshuffles should be abolished. This is another example of mass devolution of Knowledge. One day, the party in power could say they want to mix things up. So the Head of the NHS gets transferred to MOD, MOD transferred to Transport minister, Transport becomes head of Intelligence services. In what world is this ever or has ever been a good idea? Its like you working on reception , then one day ending up as the CEO, whilst the CEO manages marketing and the marketing manager becoming head of technical services.
Governance should be about having the right people in the right job...with back up.
Government is there to serve the people, and government is also a business. Its takes money from A produces services and then give some money to B to run other services. Its has an income and an expenditure. So it should be run as tightly as I see many private sector businesses run.

If I were to invest in one thing right now , cross party, it would be a website with an engine like ATS where parties can upload their manifestos and all their plans in detail, with videos , evidence, resources, information, budgets and figures. I as well as many other people in the UK feel a huge distance between policy and people. We just simply don’t know where to get information about who people are, and what their plans are. This should give the tax payer a good idea of what each party is doing, and what their plans are. I hope that there could be a forum, with debates, like ATS, and allow the people who often know more than the politicians, a chance to post comments and maybe ideas to parties.
Further to this I would like to see a chance for UK people to become involved in decision making. Such as the war in Iraq....which had no support from the UK people...and its cleared we were lied to. So, I don’t think decisions about Britain should be made behind closed doors. I would like to see a part of that site for the leading power to promote its ideas and new legislation, especially foreign policy, and allow the users of that site to vote on the best course of action. That vote could then be counted in parliament and given a certain weight in terms of numbers to be used in the house of commons.

As its stands, too many decision that affect far too many are made by far too few.
I believe that people need to be engaged in politics, which at the moment is impossible. Without reading hundreds of sources, news papers and websites its near impossible to find out who is doing what and what they are planning to do. One source, that is open to public scrutiny, in my book would be a great idea.

Phew...long one I know peeps. Ideas and debate or more ammo appreciated.

You raise some very good points and important issues. The problem however is in implementing them.

The whole system not only here but all over the world is corrupt and needs to start again from scratch.