All members of the Libertarian Party have received the following circular this morning

Why I believe that the Party needs to campaign for a Swiss style Constitution.

1. Power is concentrated in too few hands with no checks and balances

The office of Prime Minister is a relatively new one in our political History. However this office has virtually no constraints on it at all. It enjoys the Royal Prerogative.

This has lead to abuses of power which reached its apotheosis under Blair and the ‘Sofa Government’. 646 members of Parliament largely abrogated their power of holding the executive to account by trying to become part of the executive themselves or indulging in lining their own pockets, as the sinecure of being an MP relied on office holders being and acting like Edwardian gentlemen.

Under a Swiss style Constitution you would not have had Gordon Brown signing Lisbon in a broom cupboard away from the glare of the media. We would have been guaranteed a referendum because UKIP, the Libertarian Party and a host of other parties and pressure groups would have gained the required signatures to force a referendum.

There is no point whining about the EU when you cannot do anything about it, under a Swiss style Constitution you could do something about it. So the focus of the Libertarian Party will be two fold

A) Promoting and enshrining individual Liberty in Law

B) Fettering the State in chains so that it cannot make top down decisions that we have no say on.

2. The creation of a class of permanent rulers

A big State and big Government creates a class of self perpetuating oligarchs. We have seen the rise of ‘political families’, we have the creation of unaccountable private companies like ACPO -Association of Chief Police Officers- that are using public funds and are directing public policy on policing. They have created a new class of policeman that is heavily armed making dire warnings of a summer of middle class discontent, finally we have the permanent Civil Service which has become politicised. Damien McBride was a political attack dog paid as a treasury civil servant.

None of these people are elected, they are unaccountable and they have access to your taxes.

3. Other peoples money is easy to burn

Two years ago quangos, local and central government lost one billion pounds in the Icelandic banking collapse. Investing in Iceland was reckless and against Government guidelines. Yet name me one person that went to jail or lost their job over this.

Brown actually used anti-terrorism legislation to seize the assets of a friendly nation that required not the authority of a Judge, but that of a Treasury official.

4. Constitutional change is going to happen.

However it is going to be top down. As Libertarians we have a duty to put the individual at the top of the pyramid of power, not at the bottom of an inverted pyramid of power where the individual owes duties to the State. THAT is neo serfdom. The non debate on AV is a sop to the social democrats, the Tory Bill of Rights has already been shelved in a dark ante room.

5. Continuity and Change.

The British have a genius for being non confrontational and non revolutionary. As an ardent Republican, I will have to concede that a reduced role will have to be found for that of the Monarch. The Monarch can be a true constitutional Head of State, and swear allegiance to the Constitution as would the People, Courts and Defence forces.

As a Libertarian and a Constutionalist I put a huge amount of blame on our current national predicament being founded on having a Constitution that contains just three words ‘Parliament is Sovereign’.

On accepting a constitution that is founded in the words of-

In the name of the People and Commons of England,Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and Cornwall here assembled

We can have a Constitution that is founded on the individual is sovereign unless he/she has actively assented in being ruled by way of repeated national referenda.

As nobody has chosen to stand against me as Leader of the Libertarian Party on November 27th, I will argue to forge alliances with any campaign and the devil, that I think will promote the twin aims of personal Liberty and Fettering the State by way of a campaign for a Constitution.

I am urging all members to accept the change of name of the Party to that of the Libertarian and Constitutional Party, not to diminish Libertarianism but to enhance it. The Party lives by a Constitution so should we as a nation.

A cantonal form of minimal goverment would allow within a Federal framework, Scotland and Wales to run its own affairs and finances, Cornwall to reassert its historic claim to be a Crown Dependency like the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands, and for the historic regions of England and Ulster to reassert their political and financial independence.

The only role therefore for Whitehall would be for Defence and Foreign Affairs.

Constitutional change is coming, but under Labour it threatened to be a series of obligations to the State. Magna Carta, the Bill of Rights are all subbordinate to the vote of Parliament. Even Habeas Corpus is subbordinate to the vote of Parliament.

The right of every citizen to challenge Government in rendering any legislation ‘unconstitutional’ including the transfer of powers to Europe is surely that there can be little dispute about.

Andrew P Withers