Queen’s Speech confirms it: Boris Johnson is renewing his attack on your freedom – because it’s what Britain wanted

Manifesto commitment: the Conservatives made their plan to end democracy clear in their 2019 election manifesto. Every Conservative voter demanded an end to democracy and a slide into dictatorship.

Boris Johnson is getting back to business after the Covid crisis – and his business is stripping you of the liberties and freedoms your ancestors fought hard to win over the last several hundred years.

Be in no doubt: you will have lost most of your rights by the end of this Parliamentary term, and you can thank your Tory-voting neighbour for making it happen.

Included in the Queen’s Speech were announcements that all three main planks of the attack on democracy – listed on Page 48 of the Conservatives’ 2019 manifesto, so everybody who voted Tory absolutely supported them – are still going forward. They are:

  • Removing your right to protest so they can use the police and armed forces to put down any dissent.

  • Imposing dictatorship by ensuring that the courts cannot stop the Tories from breaking the law.

  • Imposing indefinite Conservative government.

The only one of these that has been given prominence by the mainstream media is the last – the planned repeal of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. This has been reported as meaning that Johnson would be able to call elections before his Parliament has served its full five-year term.

But it could also mean that he will allow himself to delay elections indefinitely.

The FTP Act repealed the previous electoral law that allowed prime ministers to call elections at any time during their five-year term, but demanded that they must call an election to be held after five years, no matter what.

So repealing the FTP Act means that unscrupulous prime ministers like Johnson would be able to call elections whenever they liked – or simply neglect to call them at all and remain in power indefinitely.

This is what will happen unless he specifically writes new limitations on Parliamentary terms into his new law. And why would a corrupt liar like Johnson do that when he has a majority of 80 seats in the Commons and can currently do whatever he likes without fear of punishment?

Worse still, the new legislative programme includes more attacks on democracy, the most important being the planned limitation of the right to vote to those who can afford to show the proper photographic identification.

This, Johnson claims, is to stop electoral fraud. You may assume that this is a rampant problem across the UK, but in fact it is practically nonexistent. His plan will strip the vote from around two million people:

Here’s a graph showing the scale of voter fraud as a percentage of all votes cast:

You see the picture?

Further information is available below:

The plan will strip votes from people who are poor and young – in other words, people who will not vote for the Conservatives at the next election. It is corrupt Tory gerrymandering to prevent the voice of the people from being heard at elections.

Typically of the current Tory government, its MPs tried to justify the planned law by lying to us about it. Gillian Keegan, whoever she is, claimed you need photo ID to pick up a parcel from the Post Office – and was put straight in no uncertain terms by fact-checking site Full Fact:

Many of us think valuable Parliamentary time would be better spent preventing the kind of corruption that allowed Tory cronies to gain multi-million pound contracts to provide vital supplies in the fight against Covid-19, that they were totally unable to fulfil. What happened to all that money?

Finally, shall we consider the misplaced priorities of these entitled Tories who have spent more than a decade manslaughtering benefit claimants without feeling any need to reform the system?

https://twitter.com/criptheirvote/status/1392202011635064832

Come to that, why isn’t the government introducing plans to end tax evasion? I mention this because the deaths of disabled benefit claimants are linked to the Tory clampdown on claims – the so-called “magic cures” that claimed hundreds of thousands of people were not disabled at all, despite volumes of medical evidence showing they were. These people were unceremoniously stripped of their benefits and many of them subsequently died. The figure of 120,000, quoted above, is a very low estimate.

The Tories spend huge amounts of money every year on their campaign to strip disabled people of their ability to survive. It is a campaign of persecution that has been more successful in eliminating the disabled than the infamous Nazi “Aktion T4” in 1930s and 1940s Germany. In comparison, they spend hardly anything on tracking the rich Tories – let’s not deny it – who have evaded their tax responsibilities in order to squirrel away trillions of pounds in tax havens abroad.

Absent from the new legislative programme are any plans to support the rights of workers with promised reforms to zero-hours contracts and the gig economy, and an end to the practice of “fire and rehire” – terminating workers’ contracts and then demanding they take new contracts with lower pay and fewer privileges:

“Fire and rehire” is a key element of Howard Beckett’s campaign to lead the UK’s largest union, Unite. He was in London to campaign about it while the Queen was delivering her speech:

https://twitter.com/Beckett4Unite/status/1392089298661515265

He has also made the very obvious point that the currrent Labour leadership has no interest in looking after the interests of British workers – because Keir Starmer actually refused to oppose “fire and rehire”.

The oppression goes on and on:

Long-awaited plans for reform of social care – promised by the Tories years ago – went undiscussed. There is no plan for such reforms in the current Parliamentary term.

Admittedly, Andy Burnham is right to say all parties are responsible for allowing social care to fall into the disrepair we have today; New Labour failed to do anything about it too.

And Death Health Secretary Matt Hancock has claimed the government is committed to social care reforms this year – 2021:

He spent the whole of 2020 lying about the severity of Covid-19 and justifying his decisions to award government contracts worth billions of pounds to Tory cronies who couldn’t fulfil them. What are his words worth?

Oh, and before anyone suggests that plans to address the climate crisis show at least some hope for the Tories, they don’t:

For a more detailed attack on the new legislative programme, take a look at Unite’s response (under current leader Len McCluskey). I’m sure other critiques are also available.

Last word can go to Smokey, below, who makes an excellent point despite their inability to spell the word “speech”:

Have YOU donated to my crowdfunding appeal, raising funds to fight false libel claims by TV celebrities who should know better? These court cases cost a lot of money so every penny will help ensure that wealth doesn’t beat justice.

https://www.crowdjustice.com/case/mike-sivier-libel-fight/


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6 Comments

  1. SteveH May 12, 2021 at 2:24 pm - Reply

    There was an interesting and very informative article by Jake Richards (a barrister who writes about law, policy and politics) published in April this year about a very important but little discussed (or known about by the public) area of constitutional law that has direct relevance to the above article.
    What are ‘ouster clauses’ – and why is the government approach dangerous?
    https://labourlist.org/2021/04/what-are-ouster-clauses-and-why-is-the-government-approach-dangerous/

    • Mike Sivier May 14, 2021 at 11:51 am - Reply

      Very interesting! Ouster clauses are elements written into legislation that prohibit the courts from having power over it. The government wants to make it possible to apply them far more widely than is currently permitted, but it seems there is no support for it among legal experts because it could have serious consequences – both intended by Boris Johnson (putting his government above the law) and unforeseen.

      It’s an interesting article – especially the part discussing the Faulks review, its findings, and the way the Justice Secretary – Buckland – lied (let’s be honest) about it.

  2. Hecuba May 13, 2021 at 10:37 am - Reply

    The fascist tory curtailment of our rights only apply to Little England not Scotland and Wales fortunately because citizens in these two countries did not vote for a fascist tory one party state!

    Little fascist dictator dick johnson will soon get his revenge against the Supreme Court by abolishing it and he’ll pass laws making it illegal for any lawyer or anyone else to challenge the fascist tory government! It is not about ‘politics’ but ensuring a one party fascist state clings on to its illegal power irrespective of rights of citizens to challenge a totalitarian/fascist regime! This is why laws were created in the first place to curtail rise of ‘fascist dictators!’

    Still never mind little fascist dictator dick johnson is laughing because he has at present all the power and very soon no one will be able to peacefully engage in protest action; refugees will be deported en masse; slave labour has already commenced because ‘fire and rehire’ is not being challenged by that fake worthless labour party!

    We slave labourers can look forward to working for nothing whilst our fascist tory masters continue to increase their bloated wealth by stealing our public money and the elderly; impoverished and disabled women and men can all die in a fire because they are worthless!

  3. SteveH May 13, 2021 at 10:27 pm - Reply

    Howard Beckett says “Keir Starmer actually refused to oppose “fire and rehire”.

    Refusing to sign Beckett’s letter and opposing Fire & Rehire are not the same thing.

    This is what Unite published on their own sit in February this year
    Welcome support
    Unite regional co-ordinating officer Wayne King said: “Keir Starmer’s support for Unite’s campaign against the brutal fire and rehire policy that HAL has forced on its loyal workforce, is hugely welcome.
    “Having taken the time to sit down with our members, Keir was genuinely shocked and disturbed to learn how HAL had treated them and the effect that fire and rehire has had on them and their families.
    “Keir Starmer’s positive support for our campaign will act as a huge boost for our members and spur them on to redouble their efforts to reverse HAL’s brutal fire and rehire policy.
    “Our members will now invite prime minister Boris Johnson to meet with them, so he can understand what fire and rehire means for workers and commit to making this despicable practice illegal.
    “As a local Heathrow MP this dispute is directly relevant to him as many of his constituents will work for HAL and will be currently experiencing the agony of fire and rehire.”

    https://www.unitetheunion.org/news-events/news/2021/february/keir-starmer-backs-unite-s-heathrow-campaign-to-reverse-fire-and-rehire/

    AND

    This is an extract from Keir Starmer’s speech at the TUC conference Sept20.
    And Congress, there’s something more the Government must do.
    Outlaw “fire and re-hire” tactics.
    We’ve seen this happening already….in the private and public sector. Where thousands of workers have been issued redundancy notices and offered new contracts on worse pay and conditions.
    In disputes such as with BA and British Gas…..we’ve seen the importance of strong trade unions in defending working people.
    “Fire and re-hire” tactics are wrong. They’re against British values. They should also be illegal.
    These tactics punish good employers, hit working people hard and harm our economy.
    After a decade of pay restraint – that’s the last thing working people need
    And in the middle of a deep recession – it’s the last thing our economy needs.
    So I’m calling on the Government to act now.
    Introduce legislation to end fire and re-hire. And give working people the security they need. If you do that, you will have our full support.

    https://www.tuc.org.uk/speeches/labour-leader-keir-starmers-speech-tuc-congress

    Plus Keir has spoken out many times against Fire & Rehire.

    Howard Beckett is being disingenuous, he has his own agenda.
    :

    • Mike Sivier May 14, 2021 at 11:42 am - Reply

      Possibly.

      But then, why has Starmer refused to sign the letter? Has he changed his mind?

      This ambiguity is unbecoming of a Labour leader.

      • SteveH May 14, 2021 at 1:30 pm - Reply

        Having read Beckett’s letter in full I can only presume that Keir has refused to sign it because as LOTO he doesn’t sign letters authored by any third party. There would be some logic in him choosing to not to sign letters that have not been written by a his shadow ministerial team. I’m just guessing though.

        However Keir has been very consistent in opposing Fire and Rehire and besides tabling a commons motion on 25/01/2020 which passed by 263 votes
        Keir Starmer
        Andy McDonald
        Ed Miliband
        Angela Rayner
        Lucy Powell
        Nicholas Brown
        That this House believes that all existing employment rights and protections must be maintained, including the 48-hour working week, rest breaks at work and inclusion of overtime pay when calculating some holiday pay entitlements, and calls upon the government to set out to parliament by the end of January 2021 a timetable to introduce legislation to end “fire and re-hire” tactics.

        https://labourlist.org/2021/01/labour-employment-rights-motion-ignored-by-tories-and-passed-by-mps/

        Keir again raised Fire & Rehire just this week in his response to the Queens Speech
        For too long, millions of people across Britain have been working longer and for lower pay. But where was the employment bill we were promised in the last Queen Speech? And repeatedly promised by ministers? Nowhere to be seen,” he said.
        What was needed was a game-changing employment bill to end fire and rehire, to give proper rights to every worker from day one and to raise the living wage to at least £10 an hour, and go further as quickly as possible.
        “That measure alone would have boosted pay for 8.6 million workers, that’s what a Labour Queen’s Speech would have delivered. Alongside a green stimulus to create 400,000 jobs. And a jobs promise for all 16-24 year olds.”

        As I’ve said above it is well known that Beckett has his own agenda.

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