Homage to the Mighty Redcar

If anywhere in the UK had just reason to grasp at Corbyn’s cynical fantasies in the 2019 General Election it is Redcar.

Redcar is a steel town in the North East of the UK. To say it has been treated shabbily for the last thirty years by successive governments would be the understatement of the century.

Even so, as the magic grandpa found out, the good people of the North East don’t do fairy tales. A set of bribes presented like a stream of cuddly toys on a Generation game conveyor belt did not impress them.

Redcar has had a lot to put up with. Taken for granted by the Labour party and ignored by the Tories it was in many ways politically abandoned and forgotten.

The most crushing abandonment came in 2015. The steel works bereft of any government support, and owned by a foreign steel maker was closed.

Why was there no government support?

The EU rules on state aid prevented it. Which was “convenient” as the government was less than keen anyway.

Even then, it is highly likely that the foreign owner (SSI Steel) had only bought the plant in 2011 to close it down.

Competitors rarely buy plant to run it in competition to themselves. They buy it to first asset strip it then close it. They eliminate a competitor and steal the competitors order book and intellectual property to boot.

For the buyer it is a win-win. Everybody else loses.

Just look at the Kraft takeover of Cadburys, or the BMW takeover of Rover Group if you don’t believe me.

Abandoned by the Tories, ignored by the EU and despised by Labour the good people of Redcar took their revenge in 2016 and voted 70/30 to leave the EU. The shock still resonates through the metropolitan elite to this day.

Then after three years of obfuscation, sabotage and down-right betrayal the anti-brexit parliamentarian elite were forced (against their will) to confront the electorate.

The Redcar electorate put their country first. They voted out the EU appeasing Labour MP and replaced her with a new face. An MP that has said he will put Brexit first and Redcar too.

Jacob Young the new Tory MP.
A man who needs to show he means business in supporting Redcar.

The people of Redcar have placed their trust in Jacob Young ….. and also in Boris Johnson.

They wait patiently for that trust to be honoured and repaid.

In my humble opinion they deserve to reap the rewards of putting democracy above petty personal interest.

So what should the Tories and Jacob Young do now?

Here’s an idea.

The steel plant was mothballed four years ago. Whether it's production capability is still viable I do not know, but lets assume it, or part of it, is still viable.

Imagine the symbolic significance to the people of Redcar (and the rest of the country too), if on the 1st February (after we have left the EU) Boris Johnson stated his intention to rebuild the steel making capabilities of Redcar.

The people of Redcar deserve more than just a few quid spent on random infrastructure. They deserve to have their industry restored.

A modest investment of a few hundred million quid would not only re-invigorate UK heavy engineering in the North East but would signal an intention that the UK would no longer allow foreign governments or foreign industries to dictate how our people are treated.

The people of Redcar deserve better. In fact they deserve more than better.

Because of them we have our country back.

Now they deserve their steelworks back too.

Parliament, MPs and a Betrayal of Democracy.

When Boris Johnson attempted for a second time to trigger a General Election on the 10^th September he won the vote in parliament with a majority of 247. 

Of the votes cast 85% were for a General Election.

So why did the bill to trigger a General Election fail? 

It failed because according the Fixed Term Parliament Act he needed the backing of 66% of MPs. 

A 66%+ majority was inadequate. In fact only 52% of MPs voted.

Look at this and weep.

Thats right. Nearly half of all MPs elected to Parliament to vote on our behalf could not be bothered (or were too scared) to even register a vote. Yet this was one of the most important bills to come before Parliament this century. For these cowards no vote was recorded.

If in a General Election only 52% of the electorate turned up to vote then it would (quite rightly) be regarded as a crisis for democracy.

I am unsure as to the true motivation (or lack thereof) of those who failed to vote but I can make a few guesses. 

But the first and foremost aspect of all this is the type of example it sets to an electorate that is already pretty damn disillusioned with politics in the UK.

Dare I suggest that if you are elected to Parliament it is your DUTY to vote. 

No ifs buts or wherefores or Machiavellian subterfuges, you must vote.

There may be (very) rare occasions when you may feel inadequately qualified (or whatever) but the clue is in the word – rare. 

There was absolutely no excuse for any MP not to vote (either for or against) this bill.

Of course there are reasons why some MPs would oppose Johnsons bill. 

But instead of actually publicly displaying their preference they allowed a clearly flawed Fixed Term Parliament Act to do their dirty work for them.

Look at this.

Notice the block of 111 Labour MPs (for who no vote is recorded) happen to represent Leave majority constituencies. 

I don’t know whether they are stupid enough to think the little subterfuge of not voting will allow them to pretend they were not responsible for vetoing a General Election.

I do wonder whether they are hoping to say on the doorstep that they didn’t actually vote down Johnsons bill. 

Or maybe they just wanted to avoid any immediate unwanted publicity that their vote might attract in their home town.

We elect politicians for a purpose. 

They are there to represent our views and are handsomely paid to do so. In order to represent our views the very least they have to do is actually vote! 

Then we can see them publicly upholding (or for that matter – betraying) our mandate.

This shocking dereliction of duty for petty party political ends is simply obscene and a betrayal of the electorate.

If you are an MP at least have the guts to vote. You were not elected to sit on your hands.