Key aims

These are some of my ideas for a draft MANIFESTO for Newcastle-under-Lyme 

It's a brainstorm.

• Proportional representation
• Massive council house building programme
• Nationalization of water (and perhaps other key services)
• Increase child benefit - at least double it.
• Raise VAT threshold to £200k for small businesses
• A tax-free allowance (so people can earn £2,000 without having to declare it) to help small enterprises and that has zero impact on means-tested benefits.
• Scrap burdensome quarterly HMRC returns for the self-employed and micro-businesses with a turnover below £100k
• A guaranteed minimum of 2 hours per week paid work for all young people aged 16+
• Increased funding for youth services
• Measures to reduce the UK's food vulnerability and dependence on imports

Some principles: the role of government should be:

• Protecting the future: investing in children and young people,
• Protecting the welfare state: social security, universal healthcare, and free education,
• Protecting nature: the green fields, woodlands, hedgerows and greenbelts, 
• Protecting the nation: national security begins with working towards global peace and ensuring the supply of essential resources (such as food) within the UK's borders.
• Protecting the people from the worst excesses of greed, big corporations, billionaires, and capitalism through the redistribution of wealth undertaken by radical changes to taxation, 

More detail:

There should be a massive council house building programme to ensure low-rent homes for everyone. 

These should be built by directly employed labour, creating thousands of secure construction jobs, including construction apprenticeships. This will also generate more revenue via income tax and take some people off benefits. 

It should boost the local economies because these workers will have more money to spend, and when the homes are occupied, there will be jobs in maintenance. Plus, residents will be better off in secure, low-cost, energy-efficient housing.  

Building council homes isn't "spending money," it is transforming the nation's resources and creating assets that will outlast a lifetime. There should be a focus on small homes, such as single- and dual-occupancy units, as we need more of these. Built on brownfield sites.

Investing in children includes raising the child benefit for all families.

Recognising that children are individuals, they are the future on which we all depend. And two average wages is barely enough to live on if a family is also paying a typical private-sector rent or high mortgage costs. Even high-income families can struggle with the cost of living.

There should be far more subsidized childcare. Much of it should be at or near schools or parents' workplaces. Otherwise, an acceptance and financial support for a parent to not work when children are young (under about 11 years of age).

Free school meals and breakfast clubs, of course.

We need funding for youth services. Especially places for young people (teenagers) to go and things for them to do for free. 

It is outrageous that young people (16-18-19-year-olds) are expected to be able to exist in this world without any money of their own (a path to depression, isolation or crime). 

The lucky ones get part-time jobs, but there aren't enough jobs for this age group. Parents might not be able to afford extra pocket money to enable their young adults to do things with their friends.  

Guaranteed paid part-time jobs of at least 2-3 hours per week for young people when they leave year 11, even though they will stay on in education. 

These people need a stake in society and some money of their own. 

Income tax and national insurance are the primary sources of taxation. 

I would raise those payments at the upper levels. However, there will be other changes to reduce the burden of taxes on families, including an increased child benefit and raising the income cap below which it is paid.

VAT - raise the threshold so that small businesses and the self-employed do not have to worry about this if their turnover is below £200,000. 

This will have a negligible effect on taxes raised, as most VAT comes from large businesses; however, it will make a significant difference to small businesses, helping them set competitive prices and reduce their administrative burden.

VAT is a regressive tax that needs reform. It might be that it should be abolished or radically reformed so that it is extended to more or all transactions. This requires investigation because significant changes to taxation can have unforeseen consequences. The aim should be to make tax fairer and support small and local enterprises.

Small Businesses

Helping small businesses, budding entrepreneurs, and creative, artistic people:

I would want all people to be able to earn a small amount tax-free without the burden of reporting it to HMRC and without it making an impact on their benefits. This amount might be approx £2,000. This enables people to have a go at new things that can improve their lives in small ways without prohibitive systems of reporting and the fear of negative financial implications, including fines.

HMRC has rolled out a compulsory quarterly reporting programme for all self-employed people. This is too much of an admin burden. I would scrap the compulsory element of this for those earning under a threshold (perhaps around £75,000). Annual reporting to HMRC is sufficient.

HMRC must have out-of-office hours accessibility to speak to real, informed experts. 

Food and Water Security

Securing the basics is essential. It doesn't get more basic than clean water. The reasons and mechanisms for nationalisation are obvious.

The nation relies on food imports and would very quickly run out of food in the event of an international disaster. 

We need a food strategy that includes:

• A national stockpile of food.
• Increased self-reliance so that this country produces more of its own food.
• Support for technologies for the capacity to scale up food production rapidly, with attention to high-quality, delicious, nutritionally dense foods (not just calories) that have a low-carbon impact.

 

While I haven't given them their own heading, we can't have 100% food and water security without also having certainty over transport, fuel and energy. At the very least, food manufacturing and water pumps require electricity. We must plan for secure, sustainable transport, fuel, and energy. 

MORE:

I have not mentioned some specific groups. Of course, all people will benefit from the proposals above because we all live in communities. It should go without saying that I would want to protect the NHS, increase its funding. Human rights and equality matter. And there is a long list of things I could add.