Today I thought I would do something a little different, instead of blogging about a topical issue I thought I would do a blog on what I would do with the country if I had the opportunity. What major changes would I make, what I would do away with and what I would bring in to play. As it’s my birthday it’s somewhat of a birthday wish, so as I blow out the metaphorical candles this is what I am wishing for.
Tax
The tax system in the UK is well a mess it’s overly complicated and not really that fair, there are all sorts of tax loopholes that people can exploit so they don’t pay the right amount of tax. So to start with I believe a flat rate of tax is fair so I would set a flat rate of tax on all income of 30% with a personal allowance of £12,500 and I would take income to mean what they lay out in the 2020 income tax report; so that would be all capital income and job based income. This would apply to both individuals and business.
I would also address VAT especially on food, now instead of it being luxury food v’s non-luxury food I would change it so that VAT was applied only to food with more than 5% fat content. So in essence it would be a tax on unhealthy food; I think this is justifiable due to the growing obesity problem in the UK. So if you ate healthy then you pay less tax. VAT would be removed also from Petrol and Diesel and road Tax would only be allowed to be used for the maintaining the roads.
Duty on Alcohol would be split between retail duty and pub duty; the first would be raised by £2.50 initially to stop the sale of really cheap alcohol in supermarkets. But the duty on alcohol in pubs and clubs would subsequently be cut by 50p.
Law & Order
My plans for the prison system as laid out earlier would be implemented as well as my reintroduction of the death penalty set out earlier too. There would also be a comprehensive review of the sentencing guidelines that are issued to judges with a move to longer prison terms for more serious offense, and automatic custodial term for people convicted of an offence for a third time. With community sentences reserved only for minor criminal offences; those that can only be heard in the magistrates court.
Education
The focus on education would be purely on ensuring we have a well-educated and informed youth. I would introduce a three tier education system with the ability to form new Grammar Schools for the educationally gifted, a middle tier made up of Academies, Free Schools and Comprehensives to teach those who fall in the middle. Finally a third tier for those who are not academically gifted which would focus on vocational training teaching people to be plumbers, carpenters, builders and alike. With systematic reviews at the ages of 10, 12 and 14 so there is flexibility to ensure that the children are in the right environment.
I would also make education mandatory till the age of 18, be that through A-levels or through a vocational course. To ensure that we don’t generate division between the children we would build campus’ which would hold all three types of school for an area which would have shared common areas to ensure integration of the population.
National Service
I would re-introduce national service for those aged 18-20, however it would not be purely military national service though that would be one option. It could be something like working 2 years as a classroom assistant, or two years working in a hospital or something similar. It would be a scheme to benefit the nation and help instil some national pride in the youth.
Welfare System
I would reform it even further than the current reforms plan to, I would reduce the cap down to £18,000 in a way to ensure that benefits were not a way to live, but they became a safety net for when things go wrong. However I would re-train and increase the number of staff in the benefit centres who deal with people face to face so that they can ensure that people do find work.
NHS
I would do a huge top down re-organisation of the non-clinical side of the NHS. It would be to turn it in England in to one big organisation that is split in to the 9 regions, and would be organised like any national based company would be; so in doing so would make a large number of the managerial and administrative staff ultimately redundant. Thus reducing the overall running cost of the NHS, giving the ability to divert some of the saved money back in to clinical staff increasing their numbers.
Military
I am tempted to merge the armed forces in to one big single force in an attempt to make it more efficient. With any savings being pumped back in to it for equipment to ensure that we have the best equipment that any modern day military could want.
Legal Changes
Well for one I would withdraw from the Council of Europe, well I would have to if I wanted to bring back the death penalty. I would also repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill of Rights that was clear and easy to understand.
There would be a major overhaul of employment law to ensure a competitive labour market whilst also ensuring workers were not exploited.
I would reduce regulation on international trade, to make it easier to import and export goods around the world. This should encourage international trade with the UK.
Then have a jolly good clean up of the British Statute book to remove unnecessary legislation.
The EU
Although I am an EU reformist and not opposed to the original core ideas of the EU, that it being an economic trade area. I think the only way to deal with the EU question would be to hold a referendum on the EU with three questions;
I think aid to countries like India and alike would have to be cut, as if they can afford to have a space program then do we really need to be giving them money. As for other nations, those who have a dictatorship in place would also have to be reviewed to see if the money is getting to the people or being diverted elsewhere.
Though I think a policy of providing food or other solid materials may be more beneficial than giving money. So my idea would be to provide these nations with physical goods rather than cash.
I am sure that if I sat and thought about this a lot more I could come up with hundreds of other additions to this, but if I posted a huge essay I doubt many people would read it. So feel free to post a comment about this or suggestions for things that I may have missed off and let’s see what we come up with.
Tax
The tax system in the UK is well a mess it’s overly complicated and not really that fair, there are all sorts of tax loopholes that people can exploit so they don’t pay the right amount of tax. So to start with I believe a flat rate of tax is fair so I would set a flat rate of tax on all income of 30% with a personal allowance of £12,500 and I would take income to mean what they lay out in the 2020 income tax report; so that would be all capital income and job based income. This would apply to both individuals and business.
I would also address VAT especially on food, now instead of it being luxury food v’s non-luxury food I would change it so that VAT was applied only to food with more than 5% fat content. So in essence it would be a tax on unhealthy food; I think this is justifiable due to the growing obesity problem in the UK. So if you ate healthy then you pay less tax. VAT would be removed also from Petrol and Diesel and road Tax would only be allowed to be used for the maintaining the roads.
Duty on Alcohol would be split between retail duty and pub duty; the first would be raised by £2.50 initially to stop the sale of really cheap alcohol in supermarkets. But the duty on alcohol in pubs and clubs would subsequently be cut by 50p.
Law & Order
My plans for the prison system as laid out earlier would be implemented as well as my reintroduction of the death penalty set out earlier too. There would also be a comprehensive review of the sentencing guidelines that are issued to judges with a move to longer prison terms for more serious offense, and automatic custodial term for people convicted of an offence for a third time. With community sentences reserved only for minor criminal offences; those that can only be heard in the magistrates court.
Education
The focus on education would be purely on ensuring we have a well-educated and informed youth. I would introduce a three tier education system with the ability to form new Grammar Schools for the educationally gifted, a middle tier made up of Academies, Free Schools and Comprehensives to teach those who fall in the middle. Finally a third tier for those who are not academically gifted which would focus on vocational training teaching people to be plumbers, carpenters, builders and alike. With systematic reviews at the ages of 10, 12 and 14 so there is flexibility to ensure that the children are in the right environment.
I would also make education mandatory till the age of 18, be that through A-levels or through a vocational course. To ensure that we don’t generate division between the children we would build campus’ which would hold all three types of school for an area which would have shared common areas to ensure integration of the population.
National Service
I would re-introduce national service for those aged 18-20, however it would not be purely military national service though that would be one option. It could be something like working 2 years as a classroom assistant, or two years working in a hospital or something similar. It would be a scheme to benefit the nation and help instil some national pride in the youth.
Welfare System
I would reform it even further than the current reforms plan to, I would reduce the cap down to £18,000 in a way to ensure that benefits were not a way to live, but they became a safety net for when things go wrong. However I would re-train and increase the number of staff in the benefit centres who deal with people face to face so that they can ensure that people do find work.
NHS
I would do a huge top down re-organisation of the non-clinical side of the NHS. It would be to turn it in England in to one big organisation that is split in to the 9 regions, and would be organised like any national based company would be; so in doing so would make a large number of the managerial and administrative staff ultimately redundant. Thus reducing the overall running cost of the NHS, giving the ability to divert some of the saved money back in to clinical staff increasing their numbers.
Military
I am tempted to merge the armed forces in to one big single force in an attempt to make it more efficient. With any savings being pumped back in to it for equipment to ensure that we have the best equipment that any modern day military could want.
Legal Changes
Well for one I would withdraw from the Council of Europe, well I would have to if I wanted to bring back the death penalty. I would also repeal the Human Rights Act and replace it with a Bill of Rights that was clear and easy to understand.
There would be a major overhaul of employment law to ensure a competitive labour market whilst also ensuring workers were not exploited.
I would reduce regulation on international trade, to make it easier to import and export goods around the world. This should encourage international trade with the UK.
Then have a jolly good clean up of the British Statute book to remove unnecessary legislation.
The EU
Although I am an EU reformist and not opposed to the original core ideas of the EU, that it being an economic trade area. I think the only way to deal with the EU question would be to hold a referendum on the EU with three questions;
- Should we leave?
- Should we give the EU an ultimatum to change or we will leave after 2 years without change?
- Should we stay?
I think aid to countries like India and alike would have to be cut, as if they can afford to have a space program then do we really need to be giving them money. As for other nations, those who have a dictatorship in place would also have to be reviewed to see if the money is getting to the people or being diverted elsewhere.
Though I think a policy of providing food or other solid materials may be more beneficial than giving money. So my idea would be to provide these nations with physical goods rather than cash.
I am sure that if I sat and thought about this a lot more I could come up with hundreds of other additions to this, but if I posted a huge essay I doubt many people would read it. So feel free to post a comment about this or suggestions for things that I may have missed off and let’s see what we come up with.
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