IAmQasimK

The UK Must Change Radically

The status quo simply does not result in a good life for the majority of people in the United Kingdom. With the extent of the decline in public services over the last decade, a related question is raised: where has all the money gone?

What do I think would help improve life in the UK? These policies would be gradually phased in.

Governance

Above all else, a government by the people should naturally enact policies in the best interests of all the people.

  • The House of Lords should be replaced by a Citizen’s Assembly of rolling, randomly-selected individuals who can reject legislation with a 66% supermajority.
  • The House of Commons should be elected through proportional representation or single transferable vote.
  • The hereditary monarchy should be replaced with an elected individual (by anything but first-past-the-post).
  • Council elections should use proportional representation.
  • All elections should be held on a national holiday.
  • Voter ID should not be required to vote.
  • All elected officials should be required to declare all income, personal wealth, and favours for the five years preceding office, their time in office, and the ten years after leaving office.
  • No media organisation (including social media) or owners of such should control more than 10% of the market.
  • Laws preventing protests and rules discouraging protesting should be rolled back.
  • Elected officials and public speakers that spread known falsehoods should be required to correct their statements with equal reach or face penalties.

Taxation

Inequality in wealth leads to inequality in say.

  • All personal tax allowances and some benefits including pensions should be replaced with Universal Basic Income paid to all adults.
  • Income, National Insurance, Dividend, and Capital Gains taxes should be combined into a single Lifetime Income tax, with Employer’s National Insurance scrapped entirely.
  • Stamp Duty, Council tax, Business Rates and Capital Gains tax on property should be replaced by a Land Value tax paid by landowners.
  • All resource extraction, such as oil and gas in the North Sea, should be taxed at 50% which the funds going into a generational wealth fund.
  • All tax avoidance schemes for wealthy individuals and transnational corporations should be closed, including severing agreements with tax havens and taxing non-domiciled residents.
  • All land and companies must declare their beneficial owners.

Education

Education is the only path to a better future.

  • Public schools should have their charitable status removed and VAT should be charged on fees.
  • State schools should be fully funded to reach parity with public school funding levels.
  • Class sizes should be reduced to 20 children.
  • Tuition fees for essential and valuable undergraduate courses should be scrapped.
  • Industries with skill shortages, such as dentistry, should have their university places expanded.
  • All adults should have the same opportunity to attend university as schoolchildren do if they have not already.
  • Social care should fully funded with more powers to deal with disciplinary problems within schools and at home with parents.

Childcare

The future depends on today’s children.

  • All children from the age of one should have access to free play-based childcare.
  • Maternity and paternity leave should be combined into one-year of shared parental leave at 80% pay funded by the government.
  • All newborns should receive a care package containing a starter kit of essentials, similar to Finland.

Work and Training

  • The minimum hourly wage should be increased to 60% of the median hourly pay, with some adjustment for age.
  • Apprenticeships should fully funded by the government as an alternative route to college and university education.
  • All adults should have free access to apprenticeships, training courses, and adult learning centres.
  • Sick leave should be paid at 80% of salary from day one.

Energy

  • All tax breaks and subsidies for fossil fuel companies should end.
  • A tax on all carbon-based imports including fuel and manufactured products should be introduced.
  • No carbon offset and carbon capture and storage schemes should be funded by the government.

Transport

  • All public transport should be free for children and the elderly, and subsidised for everyone else.
  • All urban and suburban homes should have access to a train or bus network with regular service within a 15-minute walk.
  • Public transport should be expanded to provide access to national parks, and areas of outstanding natural beauty.
  • All new and resurfaced roads should have zebra crossings raised with the pavement, dedicated cycle lanes, and priority lanes for buses and licensed taxis.
  • All pavements should include trees and use plants as natural barriers where possible.
  • Vehicles should be taxed by size, weight, air and noise pollution.
  • Electric bicycles and scooters should be allowed on all public transport.
  • A frequent flyer charge should be introduced for anyone who flies more than once a year.

Housing

  • All urban and suburban homes should have access to groceries, pharmacies, doctors, primary schools, public transport, and parks within a 30-minute walk.
  • All newly-built homes should be carbon-neutral, without a gas supply, use a mechanical ventilation system, provide secure external cycle storage and, if parking is included, electrical car chargers.
  • A nationwide housebuilding project should provide at-cost social housing to all who request it.
  • A new tenants rights taskforce should be created to investigate complaints and with powers to compel landlords to immediately fix mold, leaks, and broken appliances.
  • All landlords should be responsible for gradually upgrading their properties to a carbon-neutral standard by 2050, or face ongoing penalties.
  • The right to buy scheme should be closed.
  • All help-to-buy finance schemes should be closed.

Healthcare

  • The NHS should be fully funded with indirect to private providers stopped.
  • The NHS should expand to include eye care, dentistry, and social care including at-home care.
  • All agreements where money goes to private healthcare providers should stop.
  • Air pollution sho`uld be tackled in cities to meet international guidelines.
  • All advertising for food, drinks, gambling, cigarettes, and vaping companies should be banned in all areas of life.

Environment

  • Water companies should stop dumping untreated sewage, and they should be prevented from paying dividends until water leak and sewage dumping targets are met.
  • All advertising for gambling should be banned in all walks of life, and gambling regulated to stop the use of addictive features.
  • Noise pollution targets should be set, tackled in all walks of life including reducing noise from vehicles, household appliances, and improving sound insulation.
  • Light pollution targets should be set.

Bugbears

There’s a bunch of little things that really bug me but I know pale in comparison to the things that will make a difference.

  • Lorries blearing “warning vehicle is turning left” or loudly beeping
  • Extremely bright or badly-aligned headlamps on some new vehicles
  • Absurdly loud cars, quadbikes and motorbikes in quiet residential areas
  • Bright white street lamps