Friday 11 November 2011

No, Mr. Farage, No!

Ukip has made a submission to the Commission on a Bill of Rights, one that leaves me incredulous as to his and his party's motives. Surely Ukip and Farage have not succumbed to the politician's belief that only the state knows best, that the people must accept what the state decides?

It may have escaped the attention of Nigel Farage that a Bill of Rights already exists on the Statute Book and all that is needed to cement that within our society is a return to the practise of Common Law. In that respect I would suggest Nigel Farage reads this post from Ian Parker-Joseph.

As with the party's - and Farage's - belief that taking the 'EU Shilling Euro' was a resigning matter for me, so is this latest 'idea'.

14 comments:

graham wood said...

I'm completely gobsmacked too.
What on earth is Farage thinking?

What has the matter of a British Bill of Rights, which as you say, is already on our Statute books and perfectly fine (needs tweaking somewhat in order to strengthen its provisons against modern attacks) but basically very sound).
I have always assumed the the B of R was our version of our "inalienable rights", but I must be wrong if we have to APPLY to the loathsome EU Commission for them.
Hey, if they agreed (never, never, never) then we would be supplicants upon whom they graciously confer rights. Instead of which they are our BIRTHRIGHT - and no business of theirs in 1000 years.

I say no more at this point and going for a lie down for a while to recover.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

gw: As IPJ tweeted, linking to this post, Farage has gone over to the dark side. The first two pages were acceptable and then he seems to have lost it!

Anonymous said...

Oh how I agree with you on this WfW.

A bunch of unelected bureaucrats do not hold my rights in their hands.

Who the hell do these people think they are?

Stan J said...

I'm not sure I understand this. I'f they're really suggesting a bunch of crooks like Cameron and Clegg should draft a bill of rights, rather than using it to make a point, then that is worrying. The conclusion seems clear though. Withdrawel from the EU is the only option.

TTC said...

Good spot - and agree that it's very, very disappointing.

Mu submission was a bit more condensed. It went along the lines of "England has a Bill of Rights already and it is supreme to any statute your Parliament can pass, so naff off traitors."

I think mine said it better than UKIP managed.

TTC

TomTom said...

A Bill of Rights only has meaning if enforced by Courts.....in the case of the US they are 10 Amendments to a Constitution, itself imperfect until those 10 Amendments were passed but the 1964 Civil Rights Act is still totemic though not a Constitutional Amendment as such

Sean O'Hare said...

As I read it Farage's proposal was withdraw from the EU BEFORE introducing a B of R so it wouldn't need to be sanctioned by the EU Commission as GW suggests.

However, as you have already stated, and as I tweeted to @Nigel_Farage yesterday. "What exactly is wrong with the existing Bill of Rights".

Sean O'Hare said...

With regard to my previous comment. I think there may be some confusion as to which Commission the submission has been made to. It was to this lot:

http://www.justice.gov.uk/about/cbr/index.htm

Apologies if you already knew that!

wonkotsane said...

I agree that we don't need a British Bill of Rights and am about to publish my response to UKIP's submission. I don't believe it's a resigning matter, Farage is simply ignorant of the facts where our constitution is concerned - something that, unusually, IP-J is as well. The Bill of Rights applies to England and Wales only in the UK, as does the Habeas Corpus Act, Magna Carta and the Petition of Right. There is perhaps a case for the granting of the extra rights the English and Welsh are entitled to under the English constitution but that doesn't require the replacement of the four constitutions in existence in the four home nations!

Sean O'Hare said...

@wonko

I look forward to your response. Only joined UKIP recently. Why do you think Ian PJ is ignorant of the facts? Sounds unlikely to me.

wonkotsane said...

Sean (CorshamResident?),

Here's the link: http://bloggers4ukip.blogspot.com/2011/11/no-we-do-not-need-british-bill-of.html

Sean O'Hare said...

@wonkotsane

Yes CorshamResident I am! Thanks for the link. I will go read.

WitteringsfromWitney said...

BJ & SJ: I don't care if it is Cameron or Farage, no elected politicians has a right to decide what rights I or anyone else has! On this he can go take a running jump!

TTC: Thanks and agree 'Naff Off' is definitely more succinct!

W: & SO'H: I'll leave you two to your conversation........

cosmic said...

I had a flip through it and I think this is probably another of Farage's puerile stunts for the benefit of the shallower section of the UKIP faithful. Absolutely no thought whatsoever given to the implications of what he was doing.

He can't resist this sort of thing.