I was a bit hard on the Brexit Party yesterday. It was a black pill day. Today it's quite different. I've watched Nigel Farage's manifesto launch and it was pretty impressive. Again, he's a great speaker and they do seem to be offering policies that are tangible and relevant.
I had a quick look through the manifesto, or "contract with the people" as they're calling it, to see if there was any reference to tax breaks for private healthcare. There seems to be nothing in there - tick
Likewise on the topic of a written constitution Farage stated in his speech that it was something that would be difficult and take years. So that acknowledgement was a reassurance, suggesting that it's more an aim than anything taking on a more solid form. So that's another tick. Or semi-tick at least.
My other main gripe was the plan for proportional representation. However, although I'm not in favour there is an argument for it and it will be popular with many people. So I can't really complain too much.
Personally I can't see why people can't wrap the PR up with the House of Lords reform. Have that chamber PR and leave the House of Commons alone. I'm not entirely sure what I would do about the House of Lords, but I've been thinking and I can see two potential issues straight off. Firstly having elections for two chambers would be confusing and annoying for many people. People are a bit jaded with all the elections as it stands. Secondly it would be difficult for the public to differentiate between the two houses. There's the potential for sensory overload.
So I was thinking the House of Lords would need to be much smaller. Asking the public to familiarise themselves with another 500 or so politicians would be a stretch. It's hard enough remembering the main lot. So I'd strip it back to 100 or so. Then the elections I would have every ten years maybe. So you'd have democratic accountability, but you'd still have the grandee sense of things.
There's no doubt unforeseen problems with this plan though. It's very easy to criticise the current system but replacing it with something better is very, very difficult.
That was a bit of a sidetrack wasn't it. Anyway, the long and short of it is, I'm back on the Brexit Party bus.
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