Stop the slop!!

Back in April, Rupert Lowe declared in a statement about Reform UK, “I simply cannot endorse a party that has put so frighteningly little thought into what it would actually do with power”.

As you can imagine, this sentiment was well received by this particular blogger. He went on to say "For years, people on our side of politics voted for the ‘least worst option’. It got us nowhere. I don’t see any point doing it again - principles matter. Would I vote for Reform? No, is the honest answer. Britain doesn’t need a protest, it needs a plan - Reform has not presented anything near one".

It was something of a vindication to see this said from someone much higher up the political food chain, and the first indication from the populist right that maybe, as a movement, we ought to have a little more than slogans to go on. Ever since, Lowe has hinted that something was in the works. This culminated in the lowkey launch of Restore Britain a couple of weeks ago.

From the get-go, though, I was less than enthusiastic - and said as much on X. I could be a little more charitable and give them at least some time to find their feet, but from the website, I’ve already seen enough. They’re going to upload a series of populist tropes for members to vote on, much like Habib’s GBPAC. In fact, in terms of approach, it’s hard to tell them apart. It terms of policy content, we get this…

I wasn’t expecting much, but this is precisely the same slop we would expect from Reform. Though they do say “more details coming soon”, my spidey sense is already tingling. I know exactly what’s coming next because I know how these people think. I’ve been around them since I was a teenager and they haven’t evolved even slightly.

The worst part of it is that it wouldn’t have required a great deal of effort to lay down at least something worthy of the server bandwidth. For my part, I wonder why they even bothered to launch it given how frighteningly little thought has gone into it. I immediately thought to myself I could write a better water policy sketch in ten minutes flat. So I did…

Britain is not short of water at any time. For much of the year, we are inundated with the stuff. And for the rest of the year we're still surrounded by it. Water shortages, are a political choice.

Successive governments have followed EU directives on water policy - emphasising demand reduction over meeting demand. Consequently we have failed to build new reservoirs - and even if we'd committed to building them, most would be held up in planning subject to endless environmental and Net Zero stipulations, mandated by international agreements.

Our approach is rapid deregulation, leaving the relevant international conventions, and fast-tracking all new infrastructure. We will remove local authorities from planning decisions on matters of national importance. We will establish a policy commission on deregulation with a particular view to curtailing vexatious activism and NIMBYism on infrastructure of strategic importance.

As an Island we are surrounded by water. We also have a need for energy renewal. The party will investigate integrated nuclear desalination plants, hooked up to agricultural greenhouses, so we are more self-sufficient in seasonal foods.

We will dismantle the current water regulator, bringing it back under direct ministerial control. We will establish an audit and inspection committee to look into leaks - taking into account that water companies are introducing more leaks by replacing existing pipes with cheaper, inferior ones. Where we find evidence of such, water companies will face heavy penalties, in the form of share confiscation, thereby increasing the state's controlling share. CEOs will face personal penalties.

We recognise that Britain is in no position financially to renationalise water, though we recognise that the existing model, allowing foreign ownership, has been a disaster for bill payers. We will fast track a royal commission to recommend a new model. We do not believe British bill payers should be paying their water bills to a Singaporean hedge fund.

We also acknowledge the elephant in the room. The policy of demand side management is absurd when there are no controls on demand. We will dramatically reduce demand, not least by removing all illegal immigrants etc."

It actually took eight minutes, including the time I nipped to the loo. Admittedly, this is still pretty vague, weak stuff, but as a thought exercise, what does it say that some random anon account can do better in eight minutes than this sorry lot can muster with paid staff? It makes me wonder what was the actual nature of Rupert Lowe’s dispute with Reform was, because it clearly wasn’t quality of policy.

But this got me thinking. I never stopped dabbling with policy ideas, and my short time with the Homeland Party was time well spent too. I was planning to issue a 2025 edition of my manifesto from last year, but I think I have a better idea. I have a new project in mind. It would basically be a website, very similar in purpose and layout to Restore Britain but with content that isn't crap.

It is not my intention to set up a rival to Restore Britain, not least because I don't need the hassle, and anything without Westminster bubble patronage is always completely ignored, but I think it would serve a function to produce a working model of what an outfit like Restore Britain should look like were it not run by pathological amateurs.

I think I can probably do this on a shoestring budget. It could serve as a kind of policy wikipedia for those who are interested in developing credible ideas. It's not going to come from anywhere else any time soon.

Given the moderate enthusiasm for this idea on X, I’ve already spoken to my web guy and he's up for it, so we're doing this thing whether anyone cares or not.

There are, however, some costs involved. My time comes for free, but my web guy doesn't. I need to chuck him some money. I’ve already raised £300 but I need to get that up to £700, accounting for hosting costs and domains. That’s the bare minimum I’d do it for. I hate sodding around with CSS and PHP code.

If then, you’re interested in seeing this happen, you can donate at the following link or take out a paid subscription to this Substack. https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/petenorth303

I’ve already got a stack of content ready to go, and if I know my web guy he’s already at work, so we most certainly will have something up and running by September. Rupert Lowe is asking £20 to sign up to Restore Britain, but you’ll get more for your money if you give it to me instead. I mean, it couldn’t be worse, could it?