The Plan by Hannan and Carswell to launch tomorrow

Direct Democracy will tomorrow launch its third major publication, written by Douglas Carswell MP and Daniel Hannan MEP. The Plan: 12 months to renew Britain sets out a legislative programme that the authors believe would take a single session of Parliament, accounting for recesses, but change Britain for ever.

The original Direct Democracy publication, subtitled Agenda for a New Model Party, argues for the Conservatives running and government unambiguously as the anti-Establishment, anti-centralist party, devolving power either back to the individual or to the lowest possible level of government. The book identified voters' dissatisfaction with politicians and reluctance to vote as a rational response to the way in which Britain is governed, with the decisions most clearly affecting people's lives more often taken by quangos and bodies of supposed expert opinion than by elected politicians. Released following the 2005 General Election, three out of four leadership contenders - David Cameron, David Davis and Liam Fox - endorsed the pamphlet. The proposal of elected sheriffs is now Conservative Party policy. This was followed by the Localist Papers, serialised in the Daily Telegraph.

Openly radical, The Plan applies these general principles to produce a policy and legislative programme. The book includes proposals for the use of referendums to allow citizens to initiate and to halt legislation, and a Great Repeal Bill, abolishing thirty laws, many selected from ConservativeHome readers' comments to Douglas Carswell's CentreRight thread 'What laws would you repeal?'. The book has chapters devoted to pitfalls and voters' dissatisfaction in areas from health care to foreign policy.

ConservativeHome will be covering The Plan's launch event tomorrow evening. The book can be ordered online now.

Peter Cuthbertson

Comments

[Malcolm Stevas]

I shall read it. I had to laugh, though:
"The book includes proposals for the use of referendums to allow citizens to initiate and to halt legislation, and a Great Repeal Bill, abolishing thirty laws, many selected from ConservativeHome readers' comments to Carswell's CentreRight thread 'What laws would you repeal?'."
Abolishing thirty laws, well I never! For a long time I've thought I would vote for anyone who proposed (a) to pass no new laws at all, and (b) to commence an immediate programme of repealing at least half the laws on the Statute Books.
The problem with referendums is that in our system, wherein representative democracy was nobbled from the start by the realisation of the lumpen mass that they could vote themselves largesse (aka State handouts) at the expense of their more productive fellows, this established voting block of welfare recipients and State employees will inevitably continue to vote the collectivist, State-control ticket. Referendums appear to work satisfactorily in Switzerland, but of course they have a different system, cantonal loyalty, and greater social cohesion - one might say greater self respect. What we need IMO is a Constitution protecting the individual from the tyrannies of both the majority, and/or an elected minority. We could start with the Bill of Rights...

[fugitive ink]

Can someone please explain what any of this has to do with conservatism, as generally understood?

[Sally Roberts]

Looks interesting -I have just ordered it.

[Matt Wright]

I've always thought a guideline that a law could only be introduced if another one could be repealed would suitably focus peoples minds.

Fugitive asks what this has to do with Conservatism. Seems to me a hell of a lot - we believe in empowering people and communities so they can get on in the world.

[ukipwebmaster]

Direct Democracy?
Another UKIP policy adopted by a few conservatives. Who says we don't have influence?

[Michael St George]

Fugitive Ink asks "Can someone please explain what any of this has to do with conservatism, as generally understood?"

Ther answer is - regrettably, it has very little with conservatism as generally understood and practised by the Conservative Party. That is the problem with the Conservative Party at present.

[Matt Wright]

I hardly think UKIP can lay claim to direct democracy, its been debated by all parties for a very long time, its just that no-one has really embraced it...yet.

[Prentiz]

Have had a scan - some genuinely good ideas in here. Whilst the majority won't get taken up, they will all influence debate in the party and elsewhere. Its particularly welcome to hear some Conservative thoughts on the future of local govenrment!

[Matt Wright]

Michael - so when Margaret Thatcher empowered odinary people by giving them the chance to buy their council houses she wasn't Conservatuve?

[Andrew Boff]

"The book includes proposals for the use of referendums to allow citizens to initiate and to halt legislation"
... and this part of the plan should be in the manifesto. You can't shout "power to the people" without it.

[Ian Parker-Joseph]

They Say Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery, so its quite a complement to see such political heavyweights as Daniel Hannan MEP and Douglas Carswell MP borrowing the Libertarian Party manifesto and putting it into book form.

[Opinicus]

Repealing laws isn't in the governments gift seeing that most of them are Brussels compulsory these days.

Rule by Referendum was one of the accepted 100 Policies on this site in the days when Tim wasn't quite so firmly of the Establishment.

These proposals are the Right whistling to keep its spirits up in the face of Hilton's veto.

[Terry]

Conservatism can be dated to what the party believed and stood for prior to the fall of Margaret Thatcher - social and economic.

[TFA Tory]

Dan Hannan and Doug Carswell will be signing copies of their new book in The Freedom Zone at 11am on Monday - see http://www.tfa.net/the_freedom_association/thefreedomzone.html and http://www.tfa.net/the_freedom_association/files/TFZ001.pdf.

The ukipwebsmaster should note that Dan and Doug were trumpeting Direct Democracy long before UKIP jumped on the bandwagon. UKIP was also tardy on jumping on the flat tax bandwagon.

[TFA Tory]

" Daniel Hannan MEP and Douglas Carswell MP borrowing the Libertarian Party manifesto and putting it into book form.

Posted by: Ian Parker-Joseph | September 23, 2008 at 13:08"

Dan and Doug published their first book on direct democracy long before your pathetic little party was formed. It was you who pinched their ideas. What hypocrisy!

[Ian Parker-Joseph]

TFA Tory, The reality is that we know that Cameron's Tories would never, ever adopt these policies, and having just hired most of Blair's old advisors your course is now set in the opposite direction.

It is incumbent upon me therefore to remind both Hannan and Carswell that when their 'Plan' falls upon deaf ears at CCHQ then there IS a Libertarian party that will welcome them and their version of our manifesto.

[Tim Montgomerie]

Please, let's not make this a thread about UKIP.

:-)

[TFA Tory]

Absolutely Tim! I was just pointing out that Dan and Doug were the pioneers of Direct Democracy so it is very rich of other parties to claim that the authors stole their policies.

I notice Mr Parker-Joseph has backtracked from his original, and utterly ridiculous, claim. I would not be surprised if he claimed that the Devil's Kitchen (aka Chris Mounsey, the LPUK Communications Director) is a more popular blogger than Guido Fawkes.

[Ian Parker-Joseph]

I have to admit that Guido is my first stop every morning. Always good to see what SFI's the politicos have managed to enable overnight.