Neighbours campaign together for Libertas

Neighbours campaign together for Libertas in the EU Elections

Two out of the 6 Libertas candidates running in the EU elections are neighbours.
Zigi Davenport and Bridget Rose both living and working in Herefordshire are standing in the West Midlands for the new pan European party “Libertas” which will be fielding candidates in all 27 European countries in the forthcoming elections on June 4th. Bridget and Zigi have become seriously disillusioned with a bloated, wasteful and undemocratic European Union run by men in grey suits. They are campaigning for more democracy, accountability and transparency.

Zigi has lived in the county for over 30 years and has family links to the West Midlands as far back as the 1800’s with Davenport China, she sat for 15 years as a magistrate in Hereford and runs a successful property agency in the French Alps. She also ran an outside catering business and Zigi’s Bistro in Hereford. She and her husband have farmed together for 30 years. Zigi finds the red tape from Brussels a complete nonsense not helping farmers but causing unnecessary work and added expense. “The new regulations on sheep tagging mean we have to buy expensive new equipment and each sheep will have 2 tags – this is over regulation and the unelected beaurocrats from Brussels are completely detached from the realities on the ground”

She also said that “because Europe has been run in secrecy by élites that are simply unknown to most people, I want to be part of a grassroots movement that gives Europe back to its people”.

Bridget Rose agrees and said “I am appalled by the fact that despite being promised a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty,the European constitution, we have been signed up to a document which gives even more power to Brussels ”

Bridget was an officer in the British Army for nearly 25 years serving in Bosnia with the EU Force and Afghanistan as the NATO spokesperson for Regional Command South in Kandahar. She was recently the military assistant to the Deputy Supreme Commander for NATO in Europe. She has lived in the county for 25 years and has a small holding of cider apple orchards near Pembridge which she has run for 15 years. She has worked in Belgium and seen the Brussels machine at first hand “The only way to have real impact in stopping Europe steamrolling us into giving up our sovereign rights is to create a bloc of MEPs in the parliament who are all campaigning for the same thing – if all 27 European countries returned 5 MEPs we would have a powerful voice and would be able to reduce costs, reduce the amount of legislation (84% of our laws come from Brussels) and restore democracy”

Bridget and Zigi would be only too delighted to talk to anyone who would like to help them in their campaign or who would like to know more about this new dynamic party.

David Black

I'm David Black a retired Aero Service Engineer and businessman, a Libertas-UK Candidate for the West Midlands Region. I have lived and worked in many remote and hostile corners of the world in my former occupation and I have a wide experience of how the rest of the world lives, works and plays. I'm a married man for forty five years with a son and two grandchildren. A prime consideration in stepping forward to represent you and the Libertas-UK Party in the forthcoming Euro elections, is because I fear for their future if we fail to rein in these unelected Eurocrats making gigantic mistakes at our expense. To help you form an opinion of what I can do for you when elected to the European Parliament, I have set out below some notable achievements in my political career so far.

As an elected member of Derby City Council in the period 1996 to 2002 as the inspiration behind our own Community and Roads Users Independent Steering Executive (CRUISE). I held public meetings and formed an independent group which changed the Balance of Power in the City on three separate occasions. I did this in order to bring about changes of policy that benefited the local community and all its constituents. On being elected to the European Parliament I will immediately seek to bring this expertise and experience to bear in making the European Commission subject to democratic sanction before they can introduce any further directives or measures that the people deem inappropriate.

I'm absolutely sick and fed up with the raft of directives and new legislation that pours out the unelected bureaucracy in Brussels and Strasbourg. In particular the attempt to force on us a Constitution that will take away rights from our own elected Parliaments to veto matters that we as a democratic sovereign state feel are unnecessary and discriminate against the way we have done things for the best part of a thousand years. We have a Bill of Rights which has stood the test of time. We have no need of a Constitution that has already been turned down by France, Holland & Ireland.

In co-operation with like minded Libertas MEPs from countries across the European Union I will participate fully in seeking to end this ridiculous farce of decamping from Brussels to Strasbourg. We need only one Parliament and the expense of running two separate venues in these straitened times must end. For our own sakes and for our children and grand children we have to make this Union work in a secure and democratic way and this what I pledge to you I will be fighting for without delay.

It’s Stamp Out Sleaze Week!

Following a weekend dominated by MPs’ expense scandals, I am proud to announce that Libertas is today leading the charge to Stamp Out Sleaze.

The party is launching five pledges this week, one each day, designed to tackle the root cause of sleaze.

Our first Stamp Out Sleaze pledge is a promise from all Libertas candidates that, if elected, they will publish their expenses in detail, including receipts and explanations of what the purchase was for. Tax payers have a right to see how their cash is being spent and whether they are getting value for money.

We want to lead by example. Politics doesn’t have to be dirty. Our politicians should be people that we can trust to look after our money both wisely and frugally. That’s why we are today promising to be completely open about how we spend tax payers’ money, and I invite all the other parties to sign up to this pledge too, and together we can rebuild trust in our politicians.

The EU is broken, but Libertas can fix it.

- Robin Matthews

The downward spiral of trust in politicians

As everyone will have seen, the news in the UK this weekend has been dominated with the expense abuse by UK MPs from all sides. While the Labour party have been claiming expenses for sink plugs and films, the Conservatives have let the taxpayer foot the bill for their dog food and light bulbs. I wonder, where is the party of integrity? where are the politicians who seek to represent their people as best they can? rather than bleed them dry and let them pick up the tab for all manner of trivialities.

It is no wonder that people distrust politicians when they are ripping off the public left right and centre.

Now, I know there are some that genuinely want to help their constituents, and who do possess the moral fibre to use their expense accounts legitimately and responsibly, but they should not be the exception, they should be the rule.

The fact is, it is a poorly organised system, which is easily abused because of its lack of transparency and openness. If there was a system of full disclosure of expenses (as advocated by Libertas), then none of this would happen.

I notice David Cameron has told MPs to "say sorry" (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8043057.stm) to the public for essentially stealing their money - using it to line their pockets and subsidise their already well paid positions instead of putting it into underfunded public services.

The same thing is happening in Brussels, but people in the UK feel so disengaged with European politics that it is largely unnoticed. The Taxpayers' alliance published an eye-opening report on how easily expenses can be abused in Brussels, and how MEPs can become millionaires in one 5 year term. It's been around a while but for those that are yet to see it, it can be found here - http://www.taxpayersalliance.com/files/meppay-1.pdf

Is an apology enough? Does that absolve these rip-off merchants?

The answer is to introduce full disclosure and openness for all expenses, so that people can see exactly where their hard earned money is going in the UK and in Europe.

Libertas has always been committed to democracy accountability and transparency.

With turnout so low in the UK for the European elections it plays into the hands of the mainstream national parties, who have now been exposed as untrustworthy expense cheats, who are only apologising now they have been caught out. This has been going on for far too long, and they have known exactly what they have been doing.

To usher in a new era of openness and politicians you can trust vote for Libertas on June 4th. To keep upto date with all of the Libertas news including candidate launches across Europe sign up to the Libertas mailing list at www.libertas.eu and encourage your friends to do the same...

Warwick University - EU Debate

Libertas West Midlands candidate Jimmy Millard will be debating the merits and issues surrounding the EU at a specially arranged event at Warwick University to raise awareness of the European elections on June 4th.

The other confirmed speaker is Liberal Democrat MEP Liz Lynne, and organisers are trying to find representatives of other major parties. The Chair of the debate will be the President of the Students' Union at Warwick, Stuart Thomson.

In addition to debate on the the merits of the EU, there could be any topical questions raised by the audience on things in the news like swine flu, the Gurkhas, Gordon Brown's leadership and MP's expenses.

Anyone interested in attending should contact Tim Hodgson (Lib Dems) on his mobile 07813 514804 in advance as places are limited. It starts at 6pm on Monday 11th in Campus room S0.09 in the Social Studies building.

Birmingham Votes '09

Does politics matter?

Well at Libertas we believe it does and its ripe for some much needed reform.

And we're not alone - on Saturday 9th May, the Electoral Reform Society are holding Birmingham Votes’09, an opportunity for the people of Birmingham to make politics work for them.

The day will be an chance for local community campaigns, faith groups, NGOs and the public to discuss how they can make their voices heard in the June election and beyond.

Activities include:

* Democracy question time - come with your thoughts on making democracy better and put them to our panel of local politicians
* Workshops and presentations – learn how to maximise voter power with our campaigning and elections experts
* Voter registration drive - ensure you are able to have your say on election day
* MEP speed dating – get up close and personal with your candidates for the EU elections
* Local and national campaigns – sign up to change on your street, change in Birmingham, or change to the whole political system!

This event is open to the public. Libertas candidate Jimmy Millard will be there to argue the Libertas case and answer questions - sadly the event was organised before we had got up and running in the West Midlands and so we don't have an official participation.

11.00- 11.30
Welcome and Registration
11.30 – 12.00
Does Politics Matter? - Introduction. Opportunities and obstacles facing Birmingham's voters
12.00 – 13.00
Democracy Question Time, including Richard Burden MP (Lab), John Hemming MP (LD), Councillor Salma Yaqoob (Respect) and Maggie Throup (Cons)
13.00-14.00
Lunch Break
14.00
Workshop 1: Euro Elections - voter registration (including for EU citizens and first time voters) how to campaign, tackling extremism. With former MEP David Hallam
Workshop 2: Looking Ahead to 2010 – what can expect from the next government and why? Is there any real choice? Whose votes will count?
15.00– 16.15
European Elections Hustings - with Euro candidates including Neena Gill MEP (Lab), Mike Nattrass MEP (UKIP), Phil Bennion (LD), Michael Burnett (Cons), Councillor Dave Nellist (Socialist/No2EU) and Felicity Norman (Green).
16.30

For more info visit the event web page at
http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/news.php?ex=0&nid=267

Deaf Ear to Democracy

In an incredible display of arrogance and disrespect for the will of the people, members of the European Parliament will have a lengthy debate tonight on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. That’s right, the Lisbon Treaty, the same Treaty that Libertas defeated in Ireland and - according to the EU's own rules - is now dead.

Apparently, the bureaucrats in Brussels don’t care what the people think. And the truth is, they don’t need to. Because, right now there is no one to hold them to account.

That’s why the movement you are building right now is so important. It’s up to you whether or not Europe will be accountable to its people. Libertas is our last chance - our only chance - to make sure we have democracy at the heart of the European Union.

The European Elections are only 29 days away. Please email everyone in your contact book. Ask your friends. And get ONE more person to join the movement today.

http://www.libertas.eu/spread-the-word

The MEPs will debate a total of five different reports for this anti-democratic debate, including the Parliament’s new role and responsibilities in implementing the Lisbon Treaty. This discussion is a perfect example of the inherent disrespect the EU has for the democratic views of European citizens, and the lack of accountability to which we are strongly opposed.

This morning Libertas Chairman, and leader of the winning “No” campaign in the 2008 Irish referendum, Declan Ganley said, “Members of the European Parliament are completely out of touch with reality. Instead of debating real issues like how to solve the economic crisis, they are spending resources on something which does not exist because it has been rejected by the people who were allowed a vote on it.

This displays their arrogance, their disrespect for democracy and their waste of taxpayers’ money".

No wonder multiple newspapers across Europe have now confirmed that Brussels is living in fear of our movement, the Libertas movement. What those bureaucrats fear most is a movement of the people. Because they know that if millions of us act together, as Europeans, we will create a new hope for the future – a Europe where Brussels is efficient, focused on creating jobs and restoring our economy, and is overseen by the people.

Please email everyone in your contact list. Ask your friends. And get one more person to join the movement today.

http://www.libertas.eu/spread-the-word

The Libertas movement is gaining tremendous momentum across Europe. We have united the leading figures of the “No” campaigns in France, Ireland and the Netherlands (Declan Ganley, Philippe de Villiers and Eline van den Broek) who worked tirelessly to make sure that the people in their countries were given a vote.

But, now, we need YOU. Our movement is in your hands. You are it. The new hope for Europe will live or die based on what you do now.

So, if you want a strong Europe, a democratic Europe where only elected leaders make the law; if you want a referendum on any Constitution; if you want a real solution to the economic crisis; if you want to hold Brussels to account; if you want to renew the hope that we all had for Europe, then help build the first true party of Europe. A party dedicated to openness, accountability, transparency and democracy.

There are millions of others like you who want a new Europe – they are your friends, your work colleagues, your family members, your neighbours, and members of your community and now we need you to get them to join our cause.