Demand Two - Real Local Democracy.

This demand is based on two key principles. The first is that decisions should be made as close to the people they impact on and second, that central government should concentrate on matters of national importance such as Home and Foreign Affairs, Defence and Security and the national  finances.

Currently our local authorities are nothing more than central government agencies established to administer centrally-defined laws at local level. So our aim is to invert the entire structure of the British state. Instead of top-down systems, we need to start locally and create structures built from the bottom up. So these local authorities – which could be counties, cities or the former county boroughs – become independent legislatures in their own right. Those that feel that local authorities are too small to become legislatures need to consider the likes of the sovereign state of Iceland, with a population of around 300,000, which is smaller than the London Borough of Croydon or the Metropolitan District of Bradford and Yorkshire alone is larger than over 100 countries in the UN.

Controlling taxation is at the heart of true localism, to which effect we believe local governments structures, as constitutional bodies, should become the primary collectors of tax. We would envisage that they would collect most if not all the taxes from the people and enterprises resident or operating within their areas of jurisdiction. In this system the surplus from their own areas would be remitted to central government with poorer authorities sending less per capita to the centre.

So when local taxation prevails, allied with local democracy, there is every opportunity for variable tax rates and thus real tax-competition between local authorities which would create downward pressure on taxation for the first time.

Another plus is that Westminster MPs would become even less important than they are now, while democratic representation at local level becomes more relevant and more important. This then could see a reduction in MPs to around 300 with a reformed Upper House of say 100.

Details of how individual MPs and members of the Upper House are selected might be left to the electors of the county set out in each local constitution and implemented by local legislators. After all if we are to have localism, then the terms and conditions governing the employment of representatives should be decided locally. Thus MPs could be funded by their local authorities with the people having a direct say in what they are paid and also how much their expenses  should be.  Also if one area wanted to introduce a system of recall, between elections, then they would be free to do so.

Thus with this demand we see democracy close to the people , with government – local and national – under the direct control of the people – anything else is not democracy.