Some thoughts on UK politics 2014/15

In no particular order here are some thoughts about ways in which UK politics could be changed

Residency requirement to stand for Parliament

To be a candidate the individual must live in the consistency for at least 3 years before the election. So Political Parties could no longer 'parachute in' celebrities. Representatives will be local.

Publish overall tax rates

In the interest of public transparency why not campaign to have everyone's overall tax percentage published. This reveals nothing about HOW MUCH an individual pays but enables the public to be reassured that Ken Livingstone etc are paying overall more tax than their cleaners. The insult seems that richer people pay proportionally less tax than poor people and this would help clarify how much of a problem it really is...

Who benefits from Benefits? Answer: Business

Claim: state benefits paid to low paid workers represent a state subsidy to employers enabling them to pay low wages and therefore increase their profits

Radical Solution: no employee of a business which has profits, say over 1 million (or should it be a % over turnover?) is entitled to benefits. This means that successful businesses would not be subsidised by the state and have to pay their workers well enough to be self sustaining (or not bother with cleaners etc etc).

There is an obvious problem with outsourcing (and part time employment) but this can be addressed. So Warehouse workers, cafe workers and cleaners will have to be paid well enough to live without benefits

Advantages: it's a cut in benefits (qv Daily Mail) AND reduces the misleading profitability of big business


NB These are personal opinions and in no way reflect those of the University or School. (I doubt either have opinions on such matters but that is another issue)