Undermining democracy seems to have been the defining aspect of the Brown government. Gordon Brown has never been given a mandate by the British Public, and his policies and style are hugely different from the manifesto pledges his predecessor made – not least among the broken promises being that Tony Blair promised to serve a full term if elected. The Prime Minister has avoided asking the public for their approval at every turn. We have not been given a say in his approach to the economic crisis. We were not given a say in the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty. We have not been given a say in the leadership of the Labour Party or of the country. It will be more than 18 months before we are given a say on any of this, by which time irreparable damage may have been done to our economy thanks to policies we have never been allowed to show approval of, proposed by a cabinet we have never been allowed to vote for.
For these reasons, I want to start a campaign to push the Tories into tabling a motion of No Confidence in the Government in Parliament. I want to try and force a debate on holding a General Election. I want us, the blogosphere, to show that we have a voice, and that we can make it heard. Even if it wasn’t so imperative that we, the citizens of this country, are given a voice, what the hell have the Tories got to lose by proposing such a motion? They’re already being arrested for the crime of opposing embarrassing the Government, for God’s sake.
I know that I’m not alone in feeling helpless, angry and totally betrayed by this government and its behaviour. We need an election. I wouldn’t really care if Gordon Brown won, as long as our country had returned to being a democracy. I don’t even know if Cameron would be better or not, I just know I want to vote – and more importantly to accept the will of my fellow countrymen, whomever they decided to elect.
If you feel like I do, you can use the Contact Me form to get in touch. I have some ideas, but I’d welcome more and more. Even something as simple as putting a badge or widget in your blog’s sidebar will do. Don’t let them forget that we have the right to determine who our Government should be, and we have as yet elected neither Gordon Brown nor the breaks from the New Labour 2005 manifesto pledges. This country deserves to have its say.
This Blog Has No Confidence in Her Majesty’s Government.
Hear, hear, except for the bit about not caring if Brown gets elected. Crewe & Nantwich certainly had their say. Not a chance of getting a no confidence vote through, but the symbolism will resonate.
I was delighted when DC took a slight knock and reneged on his earlier pledge to copy this gvt’s spending plans, but why didn’t he list all the pledges they’ve broken? How much do you owe on your student loan, for example?
I’m up to speed with the Damian Green debacle, now. At least one senior parliamentarian should lose their position, and the choice to replace Sir Ian Blair should also be under closer scrutiny (even if it is short term). Hattie is moving out of the range of the fan pdq, definitely not a captain prepared to go down with the ship.
Our rights to determine who our gvt should are extremely limited – we only have the right to vote for our constituency MP. If you choose to belong to a political party you may have an extra vote to pick the Leader (unless you are a Labour member). Are you one who believes we should have fixed-term general elections, or go the whole hog and change our electoral system?
ladytizzy
November 30, 2008 at 1:09 pm