Independents to Challenge European Elections

The Federal Union blog high-light an interesting initiative in the UK which aims at getting independents elected to the European Parliament. They are called Jury Team. While Federal Union think they are wrong way about the European Parliament saying we need more party based politics in parliament not less, I think the Jury Team could actually drum up interest in the European Elections. Independents are known for bringing people who feel unrepresented by political party’s out to vote.

Through their website they are organising the selection process for candidates. They currently have candidates in:

• East of England
• East Midlands
• North East England
• North West England
• South East England
• South West England
• Yorkshire and the Humber

They are looking for candidates in all UK Constituencies.

The Jury Team was set up by Sir Paul Judge (now you get the name don’t you) and has 12 proposals. They are

1. End of the Party Whips
2. Transparent Pay for MPs and MEPs
3. An independent Politicians Complaints Commission
4. Capping donations to political parties
5. Elected Select Committees
6. European Legislation applied appropriately
7. Term limits for MPs and MEPs
8. General elections every five years
9. Referendums as requested by 5% of the electorate
10. Government departments run by a Board
11. Independent publication of Government statistics
12. Applying these principles

While not all these proposals can not be applied to the EU, there are some good ideas in there.

One think I do not like about Jury Team is that to vote for a candidate to be selected you have to text a number and that costs 25p! I know that the money will probably go towards expenses and the such but could there not be an online vote also?

Anyway I think Jury Team is one way to encourage people to look at how they think about Europe and maybe even think about running so that they can have a go at changing things from the inside. Independents play an important role in the political system and I am all for them. Best of luck to Jury Team!

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