Creative Destruction - getting elected

"Free bananas for school children" is a very different election strategy - and is it came from H'Angus the Monkey - it was an obvious strategy.

3 elections later Stuart Drummond AKA H'Angus the Monkey has been elected for a third term as mayor of Hartlepool.

In the european elections in the UK Labour lost 5 seats - in itself not loads - but they seem to be in a bit of a mess. Unfortunately their votes seem to have been distributed more to the BNP than to a mainstream party. This suggests that there was no real alternative.

With respect to Europe whether we should be a member or not is a national debate - but I am assuming that as members we should get our value for money. The UK did get £5.9bn in funding from the EU last year - and organisations need some help in knowing how to access and use this effectively.

We have just elected 25 Conservative MEP's who Hague and Cameron may direct towards leaving the EPP and finding a more skeptic set of friends. In so doing they are not part of any majority or even significant faction within the EU. How can they represent our best interests as members? We have also elected 13 UKIP members - who do not want to be members. OK its a protest vote - but they cannot disolve the agreement of the EU membership - so what are they going to do?

We have also elected 2 BNP members. Are they going to seek to represent the interests of the people they have elected - other than to say they want to leave the EU (and stop immigration).

This leaves the UK in a funny situation - being a member of a political Union of 736 MEP's - with 30 out of 69 elected representatives being elected to withdraw or reduce the way in which the UK is a member - and not to make the most of the membership whilst we are members.

If there was something that the EU did that was positive - is it likely that any of these people would publicise it within their constituancies or help gain the best use from the funds.

In the short term there aeems to be a democratic problem. We have elected 30 out 69 MEP's who cannot influence what goes in within the "club" - they are effectively 1 of 736. It is not their decision as to whether we stay or leave. They do not believe in the benefits - so what are they doing?

"A vote for UKIP is a vote to say ‘No’ loudly and clearly." OK - this has been done - twice - in 2004 and 2009. There are now 13 MEP's who are being paid £64,000 per year and then their expenses on top (Nigel Farage has estimated that a cost of each MEP is about £1m over their elected term - so much for moats and duck houses)

What has this got to do with creative destruction?

Everyone in the UK employs an MP, a Councilor (at least 1), and an MEP as consultants to help decide how best to spend a decent chunk of our income. (Official sources suggest 36.9 - 39 percent, whereas government spending may be as much as 47 percent of our incomes). This is not an inconsiderable sum of money. The choice seems to be - vote Tory - and we may cut taxes for some - or vote Labour - and we will increase taxes for everyone.

We seem to need some ideas - and I mean big ideas - and someone to carry them through. Politics like any other market has relied on selling ideas to consumers - and supporting with a credible list of people. In the past this has been around economics, social justice, or even law and order. It is rarely about the political system itself - there have been moves to reform the lords, or how we integrate with Europe - but it is a while since Guy Fawkes had a go.