Employment
Workers' rights regarding unfair dismissal kick in after three months.
Zero hours contracts replaced with minimum hours contracts after 3 months according to the wishes of the employee. If the employer lays off the employee before the deadline and hires them again the 3-month period takes into consideration previous employment with the company in the last six months.
Minimum wage increased to £7 per hour. Non-payment of minimum wage made a criminal offence.
Self-employed people working full-time (mimimum 30 hours) for any given company afforded the same rights as employed people regarding unfair dismissal and earning expectations.
Holiday entitlement and pay acrued according to hours worked not contract hours where the former exceed the latter.
Education
Replace one-size-fits-all comprehensive schools with academic grammar schools, technical grammar schools, trade and vocational schools, and other specialist "colleges."
Abolish religious worship in all state schools.
An 11-plus examination would determine ability and direction. This would be re-visited with a 14+ exam. Apprenticeships would commence at 16 or 18.
Welfare and Social Security
A complete safety net maintained to meet basic financial need in the event of unemployment, disability or sickness. Those finding part-time work would be allowed to be better off financially than those with no work. Benefits per household would be capped at £27,000.
The bedroom tax would be abolished but positive financial incentives would be offered to those who downgrade the size of their home based on need in the form of one-off relocation payments.
Law and order
Reduce the prison population by half. Prison should be reserved as a form of incapacitation for violent and persistent offenders or for house burglary.
All other offences should be addressed through unpaid work, probation, financial penalties, curfews, bars from entering certain places.
Legalise the sale and possession of cannabis resin and marijuana. 'Skunk' should remain illegal for sale but decriminalised for possession.
Trespass on domestic property should be a criminal offence. Reasonable force used to prevent entry or eject unwanted persons from your domestic property should be authorised.
Europe
No referendum on EU membership but we re-negotiate terms of membership to strip away unnecessary bureaucracy. Restrict immigration to fellow EU citizens and those who qualify under a points system.
Healthcare and other benefits would only be available to those who are already employed here after six months and to their dependents only if residing in the UK. Tourists from the EU would have access to healcare under reciprocal agreements. Pre-existing illnesses would not be treated other than emergency treatment.
Join Schengen and open our borders with fellow-EU states.
Overseas aid
Reduce by four-fifths.
Transport
Spend 2% minimum of GDP per year for the next 15 years on increasing the capacity of our rail and road networks. Remove all bollards and traffic islands that bring cyclists and motor vehicles into unnecessary conflict with each other. Introduce networks for cyclists that do not remove space for motor vehicles.
Build a comprehensive underground rail and/or tram system in all major cities, starting with Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds.
Build a high-speed rail system between all major cities.
Expand and widen the motorway network to meet current and future demand.
Raise speed limits on motorways and grade-separated dual carriageways to 80 mph.
Abolish 20 mph limits except on narrow residential streets.
Set speed limits on arterial urban routes according to the 85th percentile speed - IE bring back urban 40 mph limits. Remove all humps and chicanes on arterial urban routes. These should be reserved for residential streets.
Speed cameras should all be accompanied by warning signs, including mobile units on their aproach. No signing would mean no prosecution! Cameras should be placed only within 100 metres of accident blackspots or places of community concern.
Speed limit setting should be consistent and predictable and used as a safety tool only not as a modal shift tool.
Phase all traffic lights to facilitate and maximise smooth traffic flows. They should not be used as traffic 'gates.'
Environment
Transport accounts for around 20% of carbon emissions. This should be borne in mind when bringing in measures to reduce carbon emissions by private motorised vehicles in particular. Incentivise the purchase and running of vehicles with low emissions of carbon. Introduce financial penalties for owning and running urban 4 x 4s on the basis that they are just a pointless fashion accessory.
Build more wind farms and other forms of renewable energy.
Build more nuclear power stations and embrace new safer and more efficient technology in this regard. Provide incentives for industry to reduce emissions without reducing industrial capacity.
Close Drax as soon as possible.
Tax and revenue
Increase tax allowances to £11,000 per year with the option of a combined tax allowance of £20,000 for married or cohabiting couples where this would make them better off.
Introduce a 50% tax rate above £120,000. Raise the National Insurance ceiling to this level.
Introduce licence fees for global multinationals to trade in the UK based on their global operations and potential profitability.
Reduce taxes on beer to average EU levels. Increase taxes on spirits and wines more than 14% abv by 15%.
Reduce tax on diesel by 20% for commercial users through a rebate system.
Reduce corporation tax to 15% for small and medium businesses. Increase it for large corporations.
Politics
Fetter the scope of local councils to impose loony byelaws.
Abolish District Councils and replace them with town councils for towns with a population of more than 10,000.
Introduce a maximum age for councillors of 70 years old.
Introduce Qualified Majority Voting for electing Members of Parliament. If a party in government changes its leader this should trigger a General Election.
Devolve more powers to Wales and Scotland but scrap the Barnet Formula.
