Alliance For Change
Watcher
The Alliance ü For Change
98 High Street, Knaresborough, N Yorks. HG5 0HN.
The Alliance For Change (AFC) is an electoral alliance formed in order
to empower small political parties and alliances of parties, single-
issue political groups, and individuals who might otherwise stand as
independent candidates.
Participating Parliamentary Candidates gain the benefit of a shared
nationwide image, to be promoted in AFC Party Political Broadcasts.
Participating in the AFC permits would-be candidates who might otherwise
have to stand as independents to have a description printed on ballot
papers, alongside their names. For example, "AFC anti-corruption
candidate", or "AFC candidate opposed to torture".
Participating candidates should agree with AFC "core policies", listed
below. However, when campaigning locally in their own constituencies,
candidates enjoy complete freedom to emphasise themselves, the parties
or alliances of parties they belong to (if any), or any particular
policy objectives that they hold dear personally, especially about local
issues, provided these don't conflict with core policies.
Core Policies
The decades long entrenched power of the three major Great Britain-wide
political parties, "the Lib Lab Con Trick", has outlived its usefulness.
The comparatively recent abandonment of "cabinet" government, within
which the Prime Minister is merely the "first amongst equals", in favour
of the Prime Minister's de facto powers resembling more those of a
"president" (or even a dictator), is regrettable.
In this day and age, respect for human rights, dignity and freedoms is
of such huge importance that it is virtually always a paramount
consideration. A democracy doesn't protect the people's freedom. It is
rather our people's freedom that protects our democracy.
Starting wars, especially on trumped-up pretexts, where less drastic
measures might yet succeed if sincerely attempted, is an abuse of the
human rights of all those whom such wars harm, including civilians,
enemy combatants and our own forces. The UK should set the world a good
example, by endeavouring to seek and to promote peace, in preference to
conflict, everywhere in the world, regardless of commercial interests.
When, regrettably, war is waged, it should not be waged with callous
indifference towards the harm it inflicts upon populations. Any war
waged must be just, and wise. An absence of widespread domestic and
international support for a proposed war is a strong indication that the
proposed war may well not be just, nor wise.
Nobody should be detained, except very briefly (for example to give the
police the chance to investigate alleged crimes), without criminal
charges for which he is brought swiftly to a fair trial.
We are opposed to any use of torture, of any kind, for any purpose.
Euthanasia (including killing by thirst or starvation) should not be
legalised. However, we uphold the right of all who are able to form and
to express a decision to refuse medical treatment, even when their
decisions are against medical advice and might result in their harm. We
do not count as euthanasia the accidental causation of death of patients
in severe pain by the administration of adequately high doses of pain
management medication.
The UK should be generous in meeting its obligations to those arriving
who are seeking asylum from well-founded fear of persecution in their
own countries, with the benefit of any doubt being given to the asylum
seekers.
Welcoming employable, enterprising or self-financed foreign or
Commonwealth citizens who aren't asylum seekers is good for the British
economy, and can help towards solving our "pensions crisis". However,
some care may be needed to avoid damaging developing overseas economies;
we should not profiteer from a "brain drain" of skilled workers, trained
at the expense of the overseas economies, migrating towards our more
developed economy, with the undesirable effect of depriving permanently
the economies at whose expense they were trained from benefiting from
their skills.
The right to be different, and to think differently, of ethnic,
religious and cultural minorities should be respected. There should be
no crime of "incitement to religious hatred", in view of the risk of the
persecution of fundamentalists merely for promoting their own beliefs.
We won't tolerate compulsory identity cards, control orders, or any of
the other trappings of a "police state".
We will seek to ameliorate the harm which the class structure inflicts
upon the British economy and our quality of life, by encouraging the
building of affordable social housing that is integrated geographically
with more expensive commercial housing, so that the poorest paid workers
and the unwaged no longer tend routinely to be dumped en masse onto out-
of-town housing estates.
We will favour openness and honesty with the British public concerning
any misconduct or deceit on the part of the present or past governments.
(It took 50 years before the truth came out about a soldier killed
unlawfully during a biological weapons experiment. That was an
unacceptable denial of government crime.) The vote is devalued if what
one is really voting for on ballot day is kept secret. "Whistle-
blowers" who expose wrongdoing should be treated as heroes, not
criminals.
We will reaffirm our appreciation of the British Commonwealth and other
nations historically friendly towards us, within Europe, and also the
wider world.
We will investigate and report to the British people upon the extent to
which the European Union is democratically accountable, is working in
the true interests of the peoples of Europe, and permits or impedes the
exercise of national sovereignty on the part of member states. We would
be being willing if appropriate to withdraw wholly or partially from the
European Union, if supported in this by the British people.
We will move to cancel government-to-government debts of poor countries
where we believe that this will relieve or prevent serious hardship in
populations. We will encourage fair trade.
We will investigate the options for a fairer system for voting for MPs,
one which would tend to produce a distribution of seats more
proportional to the votes cast, but without bias towards party
candidates and against independent candidates.
We will curtail that aspect of "Parliamentary Etiquette" that restricts
the freedom of MPs to represent causes brought to them by those outside
their own geographical areas, freeing MPs to take a special interest in
particular issues, and freeing voters to approach MPs willing to speak
up about issues about which their own local MPs don't care.
We will seek to reform the House of Lords, so that, once the reform
process is completed, the only peers who will be allowed to vote in
divisions in the Lords will have been elected by the public as life
peers. However, life peers ought not be elected to represent
geographically defined constituencies.
We will encourage inward investment on the part of labour-intensive
industries into depressed areas, so that greater opportunities are
created for those who are presently unwaged.
We will defend the people, the territory and the constitution of the
United Kingdom.
Email the AFC Convenor
Printable Application Form to become an AFC Parliamentary Candidate
Landscape-printable flier advertising vacancies for AFC Parliamentary
Candidates
The Electoral Commission Website
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