Why a Libertarian should vote UKIP
by David Campbell Bannerman MEP

At the election next year, the likelihood is that we'll see something that hasn't happened in modern British politics. The ruling party that entered government on a landslide is set to be removed in a similar electoral avalanche.

Twelve years ago the public felt cheated and alienated from a government who looked divided, incompetent and remote from the people. They brought us Maastricht and cash-for-questions and were routed from office. A dozen years later and we're back to square one, with promises broken over a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and the horror of the sleazy MP expenses debacle.

Despite the cries for change and lack of faith in our democracy, none of the three main parties are talking about the freedom and independence our country is crying out for, those ideals close to the heart of British libertarians. Instead of tax cuts, our politicians are scared of reforming bloated public services. The Conservatives rally against regionalisation just as their councillors scramble aboard the regional assembles, quaffing the corrupting poison of the quangocracy. Labour resort to class war with punitive high taxes. And the Liberal Democrats have never made a secret of their Euro-fanaticism. Meanwhile the State pries more and more into our private lives with ID cards, centralised databases, and Big Brother tracking - all of which are opposed by UKIP.

UKIP is the libertarian voice opposing the high taxes, big government and European project the big-three, the 'LibLabCon', are committed to. We offer 3 essential freedoms to help undo the damage of the past 12 years. We offer 3 freedoms central to libertarian principles to reduce the size of the state and to enhance the power of the people.

The first is freedom of action for the UK. Upon our election, UKIP will take immediate steps for Britain to leave the European Union. The think-tank Open Europe has conducted research demonstrating that 72% of British regulations come from Brussels. The German government conceded that 84% of their laws originated in the corridors of the EU. This country is governed by 120,000 EU directives that have a negative impact on our country, commerce and, if the EU gets its way, our currency too. UKIP, therefore, stands as the party for deregulation and freedom to act because we are the only mainstream party committed to leaving the EU.

The second is the freedom to enjoy the resources we will save by leaving the EU. Our current 'subscription' cost for membership of this meddlesome Union will rise to £6.4 billion cash next year. That's money we can ill afford. Adding in the externalities of regulation, gold plating and harmonisation, each man woman and child pays at least £2,000 a year for the privilege of EU membership. Who wouldn't welcome a £2,000 tax cut? Think of the real investment in infrastructure and the countless other opportunities possible with even a fraction of that sum of money? Switzerland is not a member of the EU, but has a perfectly acceptable free trade agreement instead - one which costs the country 600 million Swiss francs a year, but saves it 3.4 billion Swiss francs a year by not being in the EU. Britain should do the same.

That decision, and so many more, are left to you in our third freedom - the freedom of the people. Britain's destiny is up to you, which is why we will give you more opportunities to participate in politics as well as the mechanisms to hold your MP to greater account. We will offer you the right to initiate local and national referenda on any subject, including those close to Libertarian hearts, so the politicians can talk about your issues instead of their own. We will give you the right to petition to recall those MPs who disgrace public office. We will give our Parliament the right to think globally, to reunite our links with the Commonwealth and other countries not restricting it to the European region. Just think of the free trade deals an independent UK can negotiate as Parliament becomes the supreme legislative authority in the land, and not the EU's new Mandelson Trade Commissioner.

UKIP has been asking the questions and addressing the tough issues the LibLabCon trick refuses to acknowledge. There is no issue we shouldn't contemplate, because we put our country first.

Labour and the Conservatives, for example, dare not address immigration for fear of 'controversy'. As we saw in the North West and Yorkshire, that strategy has let the fascists in. UKIP is the only non-racist, non-sectarian party calling for a balanced immigration policy, addressing it in a sensible way. We know the British people are with us on that - polls show 80% are deeply concerned at uncontrolled, mass immigration - and so too should be libertarians. The issue is one of numbers - do we really want a 70 million population and to have to build another 1 ½ Londons by mid-Century ?

UKIP wants an English Parliament at Westminster to adapt to devolution and address the sense of English alienation it has created. But you won't pay for another tier of politicians. English MPs will meet and debate and vote on English issues one week a month in Westminster, bringing some constitutional clarity and balance back to the political system, whilst Westminster MPs will replace MSPs, AMs and MLAs in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The Barnett formula will also be replaced.

Libertarians should feel at home in UKIP. We want a government we can afford, using its powers where necessary but giving civil society a greater role in which to flourish. Our representative democracy has been a beacon to the world, fighting the battles for freedom down the centuries. But it faces a crisis that no other party is willing to address because it means diluting their privilege and rocking the boat.

Why, after all, should MPs care - the EU makes most of our laws and MPs get paid regardless ? Just as no libertarian can believe in big government, no libertarian can believe in membership of an authoritarian, remote, undemocratic EU.

While UKIP wants to leave the EU, it is not an end in itself. We are the only party offering the British people the means to ensure government never becomes the master of the people, but becomes our servant once again.

This article provided by David Campbell Bannerman MEP, UKIP Deputy Leader and Head of Policy