Home
Welcome to the website of the British People’s Alliance.
We seek to build a network including one parliamentary candidate (of any party or none) in each constituency, on the following basis:
A.
To be signed by all candidates:
I fight for the universal and comprehensive Welfare State. I fight for the strong statutory and other (including trade union) protection of workers, consumers, communities and the environment. I fight for fair taxation. I fight for full employment. I fight for the partnership between a strong Parliament and strong local government. I fight for co-operatives, credit unions, mutual guarantee societies, mutual building societies and similar bodies. And I fight for every household to enjoy a base of real property from which to resist both over-mighty commercial interests and an over-mighty State.
B.
At least eight to be signed by each candidate:
1. I stand in the tradition of the trade unionists and activists who dismissed an attempt to make the nascent Labour Party anti-monarchist. Of the delivery of the Welfare State, workers’ rights, progressive taxation and full employment by a political movement replete with MBEs, OBEs, CBEs, mayoral chains, aldermen’s gowns, and civic services; a movement which proudly provided a high proportion of Peers of the Realm, Knights of the Garter, members of the Order of Merit, and Companions of Honour, who had rejoiced in their middle periods to be Lords Privy Seal, or Comptrollers of Her Majesty’s Household, or so many other such things, in order to deliver those goods within the parliamentary process in all its ceremony. Of Peter Shore’s denunciation of the Major Government’s decision to scrap the Royal Yacht, and his support for Canadian against Spanish fishermen not least because Canada and the United Kingdom shared a Head of State. And of the Gibraltar Socialist Labour Party, founded out of the trade union movement specifically in order to secure for the British workers of Gibraltar the same pay and conditions enjoyed by other British workers.
2. I stand in the tradition of concern that power should not be transferred from elected parliamentarians to unelected judges. Of concern that any elected second chamber should not subvert the authority of the House of Commons. Of concern that electoral reform should not mean voting for parties rather than people, should not destroy direct local representation, should not give power to anti-constitutional or anti-democratic forces, and should not prevent necessary radical action on behalf of the poor or otherwise disadvantaged. Of total opposition to the constraint of any future Parliament by any written Constitution. And of total opposition to any State funding of political parties that detaches them even further from wider civil society.
3. I stand in the tradition of the Attlee Government’s refusal to join the European Coal and Steel Community on the grounds that it was “the blueprint for a federal state”. Of Gaitskell’s rejection of European federalism as “the end of a thousand years of history” and liable to destroy the Commonwealth. Of the votes of most Labour MPs, and one Liberal, against Heath’s Treaty of Rome. Of the Parliamentary Labour Party’s unanimous opposition to Thatcher’s Single European Act. Of the 66 Labour MPs who voted against Maastricht, including, in Bryan Gould, the only resignation from either front bench in order to do so. Of the votes of every Labour and Liberal Democrat MP, without exception, against the Common Agricultural and Fisheries Policies annually between 1979 and 1997. Of that half of the French Socialist Party which successfully opposed the EU Constitution. Of that half of the UKIP vote which, based on its geographical distribution, must be Old Labour or Old Liberal rather than Old Tory. And of the No2EU – Yes To Democracy list at the 2009 European Elections, which in London included Peter Shore’s erstwhile agent, and which in the North West included the immediate past Leader of the Liberal Party.
4. I stand in the tradition of Bevan’s ridicule of the first parliamentary Welsh Day on the grounds that “Welsh coal is the same as English coal and Welsh sheep are the same as English sheep”. Of those Labour MPs who in the 1970s successfully opposed Scottish and Welsh devolution not least because of its ruinous effects on the North of England. Of those Labour activists in the Scottish Highlands, Islands and Borders, and in North, Mid and West Wales, who accurately predicted that their areas would be balefully neglected under devolution. Of the high vote against devolution – relatively in Scotland, absolutely in Wales – in areas where the Liberal Democrat vote is also high. Of that same clear tendency in the referendum on a regional assembly in the North East, when there was also an enormous No vote in traditionally Labour areas. Of the feeling among English, Scottish and Welsh ethnic minorities and Catholics that they no more want to go down the road of who is or is not “really” English, Scottish or Welsh than Ulster Protestants want to go down the road of who is or is not “really” Irish. And of the historic success of the Welfare State, workers’ rights, full employment, a strong Parliament, trade unions, co-operatives, credit unions, mutual guarantee societies, mutual building societies, and nationalised industries (often with the word “British” in their names) in creating communities of interest among and across the several parts of the United Kingdom, thus safeguarding and strengthening the Union.
5. I stand in the tradition of the Parliamentary Labour Party that voted against the partition of the United Kingdom. Of the Attlee Government’s first ever acceptance of the principle of consent with regard to the constitutional status of Northern Ireland. Of the Wilson Government’s deployment of British troops to protect Northern Ireland’s grateful Catholics precisely as British subjects. Of the Callaghan Government’s administration of Northern Ireland exactly as if it were any other part of the United Kingdom. Of the two Ulster Unionist MPs who voted to save the Callaghan Government (both the fact that they did so and the reason why) when both Irish Nationalists abstained. Of the last integrationist MP to date elected specifically as such, the Labour-minded Robert McCartney. Of the continuing importance of the British State in protecting Northern Ireland’s Catholic interest against Protestant domination, whether under devolution pursuant to the Good Friday Agreement, or within such federal Irish structures as may ever be acceptable to a Dublin Establishment at once profoundly unconcerned about Northern Ireland’s Catholics and profoundly influenced by the theory of two nations with an equal right to self-determination. And of the historic success of the Welfare State, workers’ rights, full employment, a strong Parliament, trade unions, co-operatives, credit unions, mutual guarantee societies, mutual building societies, and nationalised industries (often with the word “British” in their names) in creating communities of interest between Great Britain and Northern Ireland, thus safeguarding and strengthening the Union.
6. I stand in the tradition of those who have resisted enclosure, clearances, exorbitant rents, absentee landlordism, and a whole host of other abuses of the rural population down to the present day. Of those who organised farm labourers, smallholders, crofters and others in order to secure radical reforms. Of those who obtained, and who continue to defend, rural amenities such as schools, medical facilities, Post Offices, and so on. Of the county divisions that predominated among safe Labour seats when such first became identifiable in the 1920s. Of the working farmers who sat as Labour MPs between the Wars and subsequently. Of the Attlee Government’s creation of the Green Belt and the National Parks. Of those who opposed the destruction of the national rail and bus networks, and who continue to demand that those services be restored. Of those who have seen, and who still see, real agriculture as the mainstay of strong communities, environmental responsibility and animal welfare (leading to safe, healthy and inexpensive food) as against “factory farming”, and as a clear example of the importance of central and local government action in safeguarding and delivering social, cultural, political and environmental goods against the ravages of the “free” market. Of those who have fought, and who continue to fight, for affordable housing in the countryside, and for planning laws and procedures that take proper account of rural needs. Of those who object in principle to government without the clear electoral mandate of rural as well as of urban and suburban areas. Of those who have been and who are concerned that any electoral reform be sensitive to the need for effective rural representation. Of those who have been and who are concerned that any new or reformed second chamber be equally representative of each of the 99 units that are the English ceremonial counties, the Scottish lieutenancy areas, the Welsh preserved counties, and the Northern Irish counties, and reflect the diversity of political opinion within each of them. Of Distributism and the related tendencies. And of those who are conservationist rather than environmentalist.
7. I stand in the tradition of Ministerial defence of the grammar schools by “Red Ellen” Wilkinson of the Jarrow Crusade, and by George Tomlinson. Of their academic defence by Sidney Webb and R H Tawney. Of their vigorous practical defence by Labour councillors and activists around the country, not least while Thatcher, as Education Secretary, was closing so many that there were not enough left at the end for her record ever to be equalled. Of their protection in Kent by a campaign long spearheaded by Eric Hammond. Of their restoration by popular demand, as soon as the Berlin Wall came down, in what is still the very left-wing former East Germany. And of their successful popular defence in the Social Democratic heartland of North Rhine-Westphalia.
8. I stand in the tradition of Labour MPs who defended Catholic schools, and thus all church-based state schools, over several successive decades. Of the support by national leaders of the Social Democrats for Christian religious instruction in the schools of Berlin. Of the early Labour activists who resisted schemes to abort, contracept and sterilise the working class out of existence. Of the Catholic and other Labour MPs, including John Smith, who fought tooth and nail against abortion and easier divorce, not least including both Thatcher’s introduction of abortion up to birth and Major’s introduction of divorce legally easier than release from a car hire contract. Of the Methodist and other Labour MPs, including John Smith, who fought tooth and nail against deregulated drinking and gambling. Of those, including John Smith, who successfully organised (especially through USDAW) against Thatcher’s and Major’s attempts to destroy the special character of Sunday and of Christmas Day, delivering the only Commons defeat of Thatcher’s Premiership. Of the trade unions’ numerous battles to secure paternal authority in families and communities by securing its economic base in high-waged, high-skilled, high-status male employment. Of the trade union banners depicting Biblical scenes and characters. And of the concern that any new or reformed second chamber continue to include powerful guardians of moral and spiritual values in general, and of our Christian heritage in particular.
9. I stand in the tradition of the action taken by past Labour Governments to arrest the importation of a new working class whose members understood no English except commands, knew nothing about workers’ rights in this country, could be deported if they stepped out of line, and (since they had no affinity with any particular locality here) could be moved around at will. Of such action against the enforced bilingualism or multilingualism that transfers economic, social, cultural and political power to a bilingual or multilingual élite, to the exclusion of the English-speaking working class, black and white. And of the No2EU – Yes To Democracy list, headed both in the East Midlands and in Yorkshire and the Humber by leaders of the Lindsey oil refinery workers.
10. I stand in the tradition of Attlee’s successful dissuasion of Truman from dropping an atom bomb on Korea. Of Wilson’s refusal to send British forces to Vietnam, but use of military force to safeguard the right of the people of Anguilla to be British. And of Callaghan’s successful prevention of an Argentine invasion of the Falkland Islands.
11. I stand in the tradition of solidarity with the eventually victorious trade union-based opposition to Communism in the Eastern Bloc (especially Poland) and elsewhere. And of solidarity with the eventually victorious non-racial, non-violent, non-Marxist, pro-Commonwealth opposition to apartheid, exemplified by Helen Suzman.
12. I stand in the tradition of the inclusion of a commitment to the National Health Service in all three manifestos in 1945. Of the Tories’ refusal to dismantle it and other key reforms when they returned to office in 1951. Of those Tories who opposed first Thatcherism and then Maastricht. Of their economically populist and pro-manufacturing, morally and socially conservative, staunchly Unionist and pro-military, strongly church-based Toryism. Of their unyieldingly constitutionalist and civil libertarian Toryism. Of their Keynesian, pro-Commonwealth, anti-neoconservative Toryism. Of their conservationist, agrarian, anti-nuclear Toryism. Of the grave reservations about, and indeed outright hostility towards, nuclear weapons expressed by such distinguished Tories as Anthony Head, Peter Thorneycroft, Nigel Birch, Aubrey Jones, George Jellicoe and, above all, Enoch Powell. Of the recognition that even conventional wars, while sometimes inescapable (such as when our territory is invaded), are not conservative, but cost taxpayers vast sums of money, create new threats by creating new enemies and entrenching or embittering old ones, and are morally and socially disruptive. Of the recognition that we are neither fighting nor facing any inescapable war today. Of the recognition that the point of the Armed Forces is precisely to prevent wars, by deterring them. Of the recognition that everything to do with the Swinging Sixties really started during the War. And of the recognition that economic policies are perfectly conservative if they are acceptable to Gaullists, Christian Democrats, conservative Democrats and other such exemplars of patriotism, moral and social conservatism, or both.
Remember, you can dissent from up to four. We want and need a broadly based movement, to coalesce into a new party once in Parliament, just as the Conservative Party, the Liberal Party, the Labour Party and (albeit at a very accelerated pace) the SDP all emerged.
Contact info@britishpeoplesalliance.org.uk
See also http://davidaslindsay.blogspot.com, although the views expressed there are strictly David Lindsay's own.