The Great European Rip-Off

Best selling author David Craig made an impassioned plea today to voters to send an unequivocal “enough is enough” message to our politicians in Westminster and Brussels.

“You may think that most of our MPs at Westminster are crooks, but their stealing and thieving is petty cash compared to what’s happening in the European Union” claimed the author.

The vast scale of corruption and waste in Brussels is exposed in his latest book “The Great European Rip-Off”. David Craig is a candidate for Libertas in the South East region in the European elections on 4th June.

“Libertas has a mission to stop the waste, end the corruption and put democracy into the heart of Brussels. I want to do everything I can to assist that mission.”

David Craig previously caused a political storm when he released “Squandered – How Gordon Brown is wasting over one trillion pounds of our money”, exposing the shocking amounts of money wasted under New Labour.

Robin Matthews

Born in 1964, Robin Matthews was educated at Westminster School, Woking 6th Form College and Kent University, where he read English and History. He joined the Army in 1986 and is a graduate of the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst. He also attended the Army Staff College and holds an MA in Military Studies from Cranfield University.

With the Army he trained in America, Canada, Norway, Denmark and Germany, and saw service in Cyprus, Bosnia and Sierra Leone. During 2005 he commanded The Light Dragoons, a British Cavalry Regiment, on operations in Iraq.

Prior to leaving the Army, he worked in the Directorate of Corporate Communications in the Ministry of Defence (MOD). During the final months of service he was seconded as the Strategic Communications Advisor to 16 (Air Assault) Brigade, Helmand Province, Afghanistan and acted as the spokesman for all British Forces during a particularly difficult period.

He is married with 3 children and lives in Bath where he will be running as a candidate for Libertas in the South West of England.

Peter Morgan-Barnes

Hello, my name is Peter Morgan Barnes and I am one of the Libertas candidates for the South West of England. Libertas is a pan European party dedicated to the constitutional reform of the European Union. I am originally from Wales but have lived in Northern Ireland for much of the last 20 years. I have seen, and played a part in, the transformation of society there from one of endemic civil conflict to one of shaky but slowly strengthening peace. My interest in constitutional politics stems from my experience of this 30 year political disaster.

At present the European Commission exercises a de facto monopoly on legislation. The European Parliament is not primarily a law making body. Consequently our elected representatives do not form the executive; instead this role is performed by unelected appointees. Representatives but not legislators, our MEP’s sit in a disempowered parliament. The current constitution reflects a compromise between those who feared losing national sovereignty and those who wished to see an integrated European Union.

I believe this is an arrangement whose time has passed. Libertas is a pro-European party, but believes in urgent and thorough reform. European legislation is a huge factor in all our lives. Under normal circumstances a democratic society allows its citizens to elect its legislators directly. In the current Europe, citizens elect their national legislators who then appoint the European legislators. This is democracy at one remove. It is particularly shameful as the system is given a veneer of democracy through our electing a hamstrung parliament every 5 years.

Libertas wishes to see a European executive which is directly elected by the people, directly accountable to the electorate and transparent in its governing.

As a party we see our demand for reform as being in the tradition of the reform acts of the 19th century which secured the vote for ordinary people, and created accountable government. Since the success of the Women’s Suffrage Movement there has been an assumption that the battle for democracy has long been won and we can rest easy on that assurance. We can’t. We have a duty on July 4th. It is the same duty that our ancestors faced when the Great Reform Act secured them the vote: to pass on that democratic right, undiminished, to our children. As someone who has just become a father, I feel this very keenly.

Libertas demands that every European citizen be given the right to vote for their legislators. We are a suffragist party.

Chloe Gwynne

I am fighting in this election mainly because of my utter dismay at the on-going, soon-to-be irreversible and grossly deceitful hand-over of our sovereignty to a body that is absolutely unaccountable to the people it is supposed to serve, the very opposite of transparent in every way, and so undemocratic that, if it were to apply to be a member of itself, it would fail to meet every single condition that it requires of those who apply to join it.

What is happening, as just outlined above, must be STOPPED before it is too late, to the terrible cost to ourselves and all future generations. And I am hoping that Libertas will provide the best possible opportunity and means of doing this and of providing the solutions that are so desperately needed.

I myself am a trained teacher, naturopath and herbalist, born and bred in Gloucestershire.

As to politics, for me my most important activity was when I played an active role in the -- thrillingly successful -- opposition to the Lisbon Treaty referendum in Ireland last year, circulating documents and doing my best to persuade countless people in the streets.

And Libertas’ and my priorities?

-- First and foremost, “to put the fire out.” That is to say, to put an urgent and immediate STOP to the encroachment on the rights and liberties of all ordinary people that is taking place at “landslide” speed.

-- To work flat-out to make all governments we are subject to PROPERLY ACCOUNTABLE, which they now haven’t been for too long, and as of now are becoming ever-increasingly less so.

-- Perhaps I can sum it up best by simply saying: -- to get done what all ordinary, normal people WANT to have done, fully recognising the frightening fact that at present such people at present have no Political Party which genuinely represents them and their common-sense interests.

Yes, it is truly urgent. And I hope you will be voting for me and Libertas on June 4th.

Chloe Gwynne

Nick Coke

Nick first came to politics from a position of dissatisfaction with the current political establishment and also as a Pro-European with no party that accurately reflected his views. He could not ally himself with the unrealistic “See no evil” approach of the Liberal Democrats, felt betrayed by Brown’s failure to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty and could not understand what the conservative’s position was. He did not fundamentally believe in UKIP’s position that we are “better off out” and felt that nor did most of his generation. As he had been working in the construction industry for 5 years, he had seen the benefits of the EU at first hand with a construction boom that utilised available skilled labour from all over Europe.

He is standing as he believes that the time has come for the average citizen to stop complaining, to stop being apathetic and to make the unconnected political elite wake up and listen to the people they are meant to be representing. He is a strong believer in democracy and feels that a turnout of a third of the population for an election that affects 80% of our laws is a damning indictment of the current system. He believes that Libertas are the one party that can breathe fresh life into a moribund stale process and believes the time for change is now.

Chris Charnock

Hello, my name is Chris Charnock and I’m the Libertas candidate for the South West Region in the European elections on June 4th this year. I thought I should tell you a bit about myself to help you make an informed decision when you vote.

I’m fighting in this election because I’ve become increasingly concerned in the last ten years about the hand-over of sovereignty to the European Union; to a body that is unelected, and run by civil servants who cannot be held to account by voters in the United Kingdom. I believe in Europe. There are many good ideas that have sprung from the increased collaboration between the countries in Europe. However, it is time that we – the people – should take back control over this institution.

I am married, with a daughter at University, and I have lived in a rural part of Gloucestershire for over thirty years. I have seen the changes to the rural economy that have been brought about in no small part by the way our farming industry has been affected by the Common Agricultural Policy.

I am a businessman who has worked in various industries over the years, most recently in the fields of Information Technology and Travel. This experience of working in and running small businesses (the powerhouse of the British economy) has let me find out first hand how laws thought up in Brussels and simply rubber-stamped by our MP’s in London can have a drastic effect on an enterprise in England.

So what are Libertas’ and my priorities?

Because I believe that democracy is a common thread running through all the nations in the EU, Libertas will make the EU open and accountable as never before, so you can see how decisions are made and who makes them, so we can make Europe work for us.

Because the EU spend over £100 billion of our money each year, Libertas will ensure that EVERY penny spent will be used efficiently, and also will be accounted for accurately. We need to do this, especially in times of economic crisis like the present, to safeguard the financial security of our children.

Because Europe has been run by an unelected elite, most of whose names we don’t know, and who we cannot remove even if they perform badly, I want to be part of a grass-roots movement that gives Europe back to its people.

That is why I ask you to vote for me and the new, pan-European party, Libertas, on June 4th.

Thank you.

Chris Charnock

Cameron the great leader?

I find it very amusing that David Cameron is suddenly being lauded as a great leader on the back of his reaction to the expenses scandal. As an ex-military man, I have been shown enough examples of good leaders to recognise one and I’m afraid I don’t see David Cameron in that light. I will freely admit that he has shown more leadership than Messrs Brown and Clegg, but that is akin to getting a good result in a football match against the Long John Silver impersonators. A good leader is one who sets the agenda and leads, rather than one whose greatest attribute is that they react quickest to the latest disaster. A good leader anticipates problems, sets trends and, in the case of politics, has policies that are ahead of their time.

My point is best illustrated by the two policies that the Tories have come up with recently. The first was to have a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty – a thoroughly laudable policy even if it will be too late by the time they can come to power. However, this has been a Libertas Policy since we started, so is hardly ground-breaking stuff. The second is that Mr Cameron wants all expenses to be published – another policy that Libertas have always had.

So where does this leave us? It leaves us with only one Party that genuinely represents progress and leadership and I am proud to be one of its candidates.
Nick Coke