Democracy – Page 7 – Steve Baker

Post Tagged with: "Democracy"

The dangerous subversion of Germany’s democracy – Telegraph Blogs

by Steve Baker 28 September 2011 in Politics Comments are Disabled

Carsten Schneider, finance spokesman for the Social Democrats, spoke for many last week, denouncing the shabby back-room dealings as a scandal. “A new multi-trillion programme is being cooked up in Washington and Brussels, while the wool is being pulled over the eyes of Bundestag and German public. This is unacceptable.” […]

Bad ideas that never die: a Parliament of special interests

by Steve Baker 29 August 2011 in Politics 1 comment

The Times is running two letters under the heading, Should the Upper House be a Senate? (£). The first letter calls for a federal senate with equal representation for each nation of the UK. (Quite why the smaller nations should be disproportionately powerful, I do not know.) The second calls for […]

The EU should be abolished

by Steve Baker 14 August 2011 in Politics 2 comments

Via Calls for a referendum on EU membership after David Cameron’s U-turn on tax | World news | The Observer: Tory and Labour MPs believe that if the eurozone moves towards a single tax system – as chancellor George Osborne advocated again – then the EU will become a fundamentally […]

MPs order tax chiefs to stop posting out ‘horrifying threats’ | Mail Online

by Steve Baker 1 August 2011 in Politics Comments are Disabled

HM Revenue chiefs were yesterday ordered by MPs to stop sending threatening letters to people who owed them money, warning that cars and televisions would be seized and sold off for a pittance. In a scathing rebuke, tax bosses were told by the Commons’ Treasury committee that the ‘widely used’ […]

Stadium: Hundreds protest against stadium plans

by Steve Baker 16 July 2011 in Politics 3 comments

As I set out in an article for the Bucks Free Press in February, I am determined to create the right environment for a flourishing local democracy and a radical decentralisation of power. Today, via The Bucks Free Press, we see local democracy in action: HUNDREDS of protesters marched through High Wycombe today […]

Another £10bn to the IMF?

by Steve Baker 6 July 2011 in Politics 2 comments

Yesterday, a statutory instrument committee was asked to decide to agree another £10bn for the IMF. With others, I crashed the committee and spoke. You can find the debate here. In addition to rejecting bailouts, I attacked the IMF before questioning our fundamental monetary arrangements. Here’s the section on the […]

An unlikely alliance on directors’ remuneration

by Steve Baker 5 July 2011 in Politics Comments are Disabled

Via Hansard, my unlikely alliance with Labour’s John McDonnell over the need for shareholders to be able to control directors’ remuneration: Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con): As I listened to the hon. Member for Hayes and Harlington (John McDonnell) speak to amendment 15, I thought that my ears were deceiving me […]

Roadmap to a Single EuropeanTransport Area

by Steve Baker 5 July 2011 in Politics 3 comments

I spoke yesterday on the Roadmap to a Single EuropeanTransport Area (04 July 2011): Setting those issues [of planning] aside, I want to make two points about sovereignty. First, on the technical side, there are questions about pricing, taxation and how the Government will work within the framework of the EU, […]

Eurozone Financial Assistance – so much for Parliament asserting itself?

by Steve Baker 24 May 2011 in Politics Comments are Disabled

As you can see on today’s order paper, Mark Reckless MP has courageously brought forward the following motion, which I have signed (emphasis mine): EUROZONE FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE That this House notes with concern that UK taxpayers are potentially being made liable for bail-outs of Eurozone countries when the UK opted […]

Why HS2 doesn’t arouse the nation’s anger

by Steve Baker 12 May 2011 in Politics Comments are Disabled

Via the Adam Smith Institute, Why government doesn’t cut spending (even though it should) — a brief introduction to Public Choice Theory: Cutting tax and spending has concentrated costs and dispersed benefits but state spending has concentrated benefits and dispersed costs. That promotes growing state spending. It means that projects […]