The Northern Independence Party (NIP) have announced their candidate for the Wakefield by-election after a ballot of party members on Monday evening. Christopher Jones, an electrician who comes from a mining family and served in the British Army as a Lance Corporal until being made redundant in 2012, will represent the party in the contest.
The by-election, triggered by the criminal conviction and resignation of outgoing Tory MP Imran Khan, will take place in Wakefield on 23 June. The NIP is offering a platform of renationalisation and more devolved powers for the North that they believe will appeal to voters unimpressed by the responses of the government and opposition to the corporate greed-driven ‘cost-of-living crisis’.
Traditionally a Labour stronghold, Wakefield returned a Conservative MP for the first time in 2019, after many in the Leave-voting constituency rejected Labour’s policy of a second EU referendum that Keir Starmer had engineered. The NIP plans to appeal to these traditional Labour voters by running on a proudly pro-union, anti-privatisation manifesto.
In a statement, Mr. Jones said he was running because,
the people of Wakefield are sick of being taken for granted, and because we know that not only are better things possible for the North, they’re closer than we think.
Mr. Jones also promised to “stand up to the London-based Westminster parties and demand a fair share for Wakefield” if elected, proposing to fight for the nationalisation of energy companies, bring buses, trains and schools back under public control, and crack down on corporate fly-tipping across Wakefield.
In contrast, the Labour party is fielding a ‘parachuted’ candidate appointed in a process that triggered the resignation of the entire elected executive of Wakefield Labour.
The announcement of Mr. Jones’ candidacy comes just two weeks after local council elections where the NIP stood across the North, finishing ahead of the Liberal Democrats in Newcastle’s Wingrove ward and doubling their candidate’s vote share in Liverpool. The party has seen a surge in membership since the local elections, and party officials say that in Wakefield they are “in it to win.” The party’s manifesto can be found here.
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More new partys will spring up both sides of the political divide as the public loose confidence in the “system” thats produced a House of Horrors “and the parasites that infect it.
The worry is that some of them will be far-right. That’s why it’s important that the NIP is pushing policies to address the issues that affect real people.
Best of luck to Chris, good politics and he’s a Wakefield lad from a mining family.
As the Tories big idea (?) seems to be to lend us £200 for our energy bills (!) Hope NIP go big on the Tory cost of living crisis, welcome to use:
A 20% Wealth Tax (will bring in £69b).
An Annual £500 Winter Fuel Payment for All.
Cut VAT Energy Bills (saves £200) and end any standing charges.
Scrap overcharging on Pre-Payment Meters.
Democratic Public Ownership of Energy.
Regulate Food Prices.
Free school meals for All kids and during school holidays.
Scrap the NI increase.
£25 extra per week for All Benefits.
End Pay Freezes.
£15 per hour Minimum Wage.
Keep Pensions linked to cost of living and restore free TV licences.
Security of Tenure for Renters & Rent Controls.
BREAD, FUEL & FREEDOM FROM POVERTY!
Hope NIP put out their campaign details and the Left could pour in to help!
Vote for Chris Jones the NIP Wakefield Lad!
We are often told that theres just not the money for what we know are essentials…A roof over our heads and money to pay for it,a good education,a welfare system that works without intimidation,a NHS and a cost of living that reflects the income of ordinary people.And a justice system that treats all people equally.Theres billions available for whats laughingly called defence and money available for fat cats in parliament.Theres always money available for those who don’t need it and its increasing.We need politicians who are a reflection of ordinary people without titles and private education.To sum up we need a democracy that represents the people of Britain.Are we dreaming and is it too much to ask for?
Joseph, we need to spend any extra reserves on our navy to defeat the Chinese and Russians with our French helicopter carriers and the odd yank junk jet that can last till the end of the runways. It’s not as bad as it sounds because the ockers are angry at China and their matelots can’t wait to invade the Solomons. They are tough and fearless, just ask the real Aussies. Sorry, ask afghan moped drivers as well. Fearless warriors who fly our flag. Priorities, Joseph.
I agree Bazza .Chris Jones will offer the people of Wakefield an alternative to the Tories, blue and red ( this was Mandelson’s seat). I hope they take it and vote for a real Socialist this time round.
Smartboy, Mandelson’s seat. Is it a sordid, local beauty spot? You know a hideaway for those who like privacy. Most towns and gentlemen’s clubs have such enclaves.
Nice list Bazza, but how is it gonna be paid for?
I’m not asking from a Tory perspective, but from the “our funny money is no longer any good” perspective.
It’s the spending that’s gotten us where we are today. Granted, we have not seen very much of that money, but it’s a moot point now.
Far better for the people, (but good luck getting them to swallow it) would be to ease all down to a standard of the 70s instead of the 30s.
UN spokesperson says there is 10 weeks of wheat left globally. Extra money will not fix this issue. You cannot eat pounds.
It’s not strictly the spending that’s got us where we are. It’s more the insufficiency of income from taxation.
Far too many companies operate a scam where their head office is in Switzerland, or Jersey or the BVI. They gerrymander their accounts so that the bulk of the profits are registered as being made offshore. Minimal tax is paid in the UK and precious little in the offshore entity.
Solution – If a company is doing this, change the tax rules so that they pay tax on their UK turnover. This would be at a lower rate than corporation tax so as not to double tax wages, raw materials costs etc.
With our modern fiat (hot air) currency, taxation is about the destruction of money. This is why the rich avoid it and remain rich.
Money creation has been handed from government to the banks. It costs government very little to print off some £50 notes, meaning a lot of profit per note. This has been passed over to the parasitical rentier class who create and destroy money/loans at will, taking the all important interest money. The real money.
Add in all that casino cash from the bankers and forty odd years of turkeys are coming home to roost.
Global currencies will change to resource backed value. The city of London aren’t stupid. Why aren’t we looking at this? Would it be that we have very little of anything useful, and the spend today pay tomorrow bar tab isn’t covered.
Current UK debt obligation: £ 52,383,241,722
That’s £1662 per second, and rising. Still, jam tomorrow!
NVLA – You must have missed the 20% Wealth Tax which brings in £69b oh and a Financial Transaction Tax would bring in £250b!
And rent controls would bring down the amounts spent on benefits to cover housing costs. We currently spend £17 billion. If we could knock even a quarter of that off, that would be another £4 billion a year available for other things.
Have you all read Ann Black’s comprehensive report on this month’s NEC meeting.
https://labourlist.org/2022/05/leaders-report-parliamentary-selections-and-local-elections-labour-nec-report/
bazza,
appreciate the list. Haven’t the time to think through all of the points but set my mind to the first
A 20% Wealth Tax (will bring in £69b).
Would rather the tax rates are extended than singling out people because they are deemed wealthy – keep it proportional rather than punitive. We should have the minimum wage as the barometer by which these tax rates kick in. I’d initiate a 35 hour working week and using £15ph as the baseline would then multiply this by 52 to arrive at an annualised salary of £27,300.
Tax rates would then be
Personal Allowance – up to £13,650 (which is 50% of £27,300) – currently £12,570
Basic rate 20% (as is) £13,650 to £54,600 (1x to 2x £27,300) – currently £12,571 to £50,270
Higher rate 40% (as is) £54,601 to £163,800 (2x to 6x £27,300) – currently £50,271 to £150,000
Additional rate: 50% (currently 45%) over £163,801 (more than 6x £27,300)
I would use the multiplier to set civil service pay caps, topping out at the PM (6x) earning £163,800 (currently £161,401) and an MP on £81,900 (3x – currently £84.144). The multiplier would have to be more granular (ie fractional) to account for all the various tiers of government employees but should be evident in the NHS, Education, Military and other public sector endeavours. I would hope that sectors such as unions and charities might also ascribe to this. If these are enshrined then there is a collective motivation to keep the minimum wage ascending with inflation as other wage rise are contingent upon it. It would also be worthwhile allowing private companies to bring their wage structure within this model (ie one to six times minimum wage spread) and there could be corporation or other tax break incentives used to encourage this.
I think this would bring in more revenue (but suspect less than £69bn) though it would also have the effect of tethering a large swathe of the working population into a co-dependency rather than permitting some (University VCs and BBC upper management come to mind) to attain escape velocity.