THOUGH politicians and the political twitterati obsess about the date, timing and outcome of the general election, most ordinary citizens remain comatose at the prospect; barely 65 per cent of them are likely to vote for their respective red or blue donkey. This is understandable, given that in many respects the outcome is almost certainly going to be more of the same. Sunak v Starmer makes little difference. Both will happily implement the globalist agenda that takes political control out of the hands of ordinary citizens and places it in the hands of technocrats at the national and global levels, whether on climate change, central bank digital currency, or surrendering the management of public health emergencies to the World Health Organization.
The pace may differ slightly but the destination is the same. No other party or movement has the infrastructure or support from the legacy media to make any meaningful impact at a general election. Reform UK risk simply splitting the Conservative vote and because of that possibly will poll closer to the 3 per cent that they are getting in byelections than the 10 per cent that some of the managed opinion polls are currently suggesting. Either way, first past the post will ensure that they will secure very few seats, if any. Individual independent candidates with a high local profile such as Sam Lee in Hartlepool do have a real prospect of causing upsets. And independent MPs would provide a valuable platform for calling out the Uniparty narrative. However, they are very unlikely to change the colour or nature of the next government. The parliamentary system will isolate and marginalise them.
Yet all is not lost. National elections may be a hard nut to crack for citizens who want to protect civil liberties and return power to the people, but local elections are another matter. On May 2, aspirant mayors, police commissioners and councillors will stand for election across the country, and candidates willing to defend our liberties and give citizens a say over how their communities are governed have a fighting chance of getting elected and making a difference.
Unlike national elections, which require a well-funded party machine to outmanoeuvre the existing political establishment, local elections are not as expensive to enter, and not as easy for national elites to control. Indeed, the mayoral and police commissioner elections are the most viable electoral battleground for those in the freedom movement who reject the Uniparty state. It is for this reason that I am standing as an independent candidate to be West Yorkshire’s Mayor.
When in 1998 Tony Blair made his push for elected mayors and police commissioners, nominally as a means of reviving interest in local government, I’m convinced he intended them to streamline control over localities. The move celebrated by some as a step towards modern governance was in reality a veiled attempt at centralising power. Elected Mayors led the statist charge. They campaigned for greater and earlier covid restrictions, often under the guise of securing more funding for their areas. To my knowledge not one elected mayor or police commissioner stood up and challenged the statist narrative and covid hysteria.
However, within this system, there’s a loophole, a glimmer of hope for genuine, grassroots change. Even the globalist Blair overlooked it. As the mayoral and PC elections are for one individual, it is entirely possible that an independent or small insurgent political party could capture one of these posts. It may be difficult, but as you need only one candidate, £20,000 of funding, diligent campaigning and perhaps a bit of luck, it’s not impossible. Contrast this with a general election where several hundred candidates, a nationwide machinery and several £million of funding are necessary just to enter the national contest.
Take the Yorkshire Party (YP) which secured nearly 10 per cent of the vote in the West Yorkshire mayoral election in May 2021 but have never managed more than 4 per cent in a parliamentary election. They weren’t valiant advocates of civil liberties; in fact they were fully compliant with the statist narrative and just wanted a bit more money for Yorkshire. But the point is that if they could achieve that, there is significant potential for a genuinely insurgent candidate to do better.
One wonders whether the government was responding to this ‘red flag’ by changing the electoral system for mayors from supplementary vote to first-past-the-post? According to Chloe Smith, the Cabinet Office Minister, this was to prevent apparently ‘loser candidates’ from securing election. More likely it was to try to prevent a ‘winner candidate’ from outside the two-party machinery securing real power. They were worried that the state agenda might be disrupted and called out by a libertarian-inclined mayor.
The move to first-past-the-post for electing mayors undoubtedly makes it harder for independents, but still not impossible. The door is still ajar.
Mayors have both real-world powers and a media platform, and to a lesser extent so do Police Commissioners. The powers vary from mayor to mayor, depending on what local councils were willing to relinquish in return for additional funding. Most commonly they cover policing, transport and housing. These are areas of critical importance to future lockdowns, 15-minute cities and the moves to medical and climate fascism. Just one elected mayor would have the potential power to disrupt and delay those plans. Several elected mayors acting in concert could provide effective pushback.
This is why it’s so important to vote for your mayor. Local governance is the front line of democracy. It’s where the rubber meets the road, where policies and decisions directly affect our lives. It is why I’m standing to be West Yorkshire Mayor on May 2. You can see my full manifesto here. There will be other independent candidates such as Nick Buckley in Greater Manchester. Ideally there needs to be a genuine pro-freedom independent candidate standing in each of the 11 mayoral and 43 police commissioner elections on May 2. While the world is focused on the general election, perhaps just one or two of us might be able to slip in through the back door which Sir Tony has kindly left unlocked.