Growing Support for Libertas

With just two days to go before the EU elections, support for Libertas, the pan-European reform party is growing rapidly in the media. As the shine comes off UKIP as the alternative vote, journalists across the board are taking a fresh look at Libertas, the party that took on Brussels and won.

In just the last day or so, the Daily Mail included a glowing piece by Peter Oborne and then the Sun joined in with an endorsement by Trevor Kavanagh and a further compliment in the editorial.

Here are some of the highlights:

“A better bet is Libertas, the new party that sensationally humiliated established political parties in Ireland last year. In a brilliant campaign, backed by The Sun, Libertas turned a near-certain YES into a bombshell NO on the Constitution.”
- Trevor Kavanagh, The Sun

“Many voters are tempted by the increasingly credible Libertas.”
-The Sun Says column

“At a time of moral squalor and decay in Westminster and Brussels, both Libertas and Jury Team offer voters a hugely refreshing - and, perhaps, the only proper - alternative on Thursday.”
- Peter Oborne, Daily Mail

UKIPOCRISY

In a video sent around Europe today, Libertas exposes the hypocrisy of the UK Independence party.

www.libertas.eu/ukip

UKIP’s message of cleaning up Brussels is in direct contrast to how its members operate. Instead of fixing the problem, UKIP has become the problem. During the past European parliamentary term, a full quarter, 25%, of UKIP MEPs were either convicted of fraud, expelled for the same reason, or resigned in disgrace.

Nigel Farage can't stop the sleaze because he employs his wife, they refuse to publish even the most basic details of their expenses and UKIP has the laziest MEPs in Britain, attending just 60% of votes over the last five years.

DON'T judge UKIP on what they say but on HOW they behave. UKIP cannot change anything in Brussels - Libertas is the ONLY party that can change what is happening and stop the gravy train that is pouring out of Brussels. UKIP are NOT the answer, Libertas is.

www.libertas.eu/ukip

Labour MEPs should disclose ALL expenses

Under pressure from Libertas Chairman Declan Ganley, former Labour Minister Denis MacShane MP admitted on television that Labour MEPs should disclose ALL expenses claims in advance of the European election on the 4th June. Labour MEPs just weeks ago voted to keep their expenses hidden from view.

Speaking on the BBC's Daily Politics Show, Mr MacShane also said that Libertas' campaign to put Europe back in the hands of the people, 'sounds terrific'.

Chairman, Declan Ganley said, "it's easy to make promises and conjure up soundbites on television, when the Brussels reality is completely different. On 12th March, Labour MEPs voted to keep their taxpayer-funded expenses a secret."

"We will be watching the British Labour Party closely on behalf of voters over the next three weeks, to ensure that - this time at least - they stick to their word."

The Great European Rip-Off

Best selling author David Craig made an impassioned plea today to voters to send an unequivocal “enough is enough” message to our politicians in Westminster and Brussels.

“You may think that most of our MPs at Westminster are crooks, but their stealing and thieving is petty cash compared to what’s happening in the European Union” claimed the author.

The vast scale of corruption and waste in Brussels is exposed in his latest book “The Great European Rip-Off”. David Craig is a candidate for Libertas in the South East region in the European elections on 4th June.

“Libertas has a mission to stop the waste, end the corruption and put democracy into the heart of Brussels. I want to do everything I can to assist that mission.”

David Craig previously caused a political storm when he released “Squandered – How Gordon Brown is wasting over one trillion pounds of our money”, exposing the shocking amounts of money wasted under New Labour.

Libertas – creeping up on the blind side?

Lord Tebbit urges us not to vote for the larger parties in elections to the European Parliament.

His implication is that a vote for a less mainstream party would serve as a slap on the wrists of the bigger parties for their appalling behaviour.

Undoubtedly, a vote for the fringe parties such as UKIP would serve as a wake-up call in Britain.

But I think Lord Tebbit has failed to realise the full implications of a vote for the ‘less mainstream’ Libertas.

Because Libertas is committed to contesting these elections all across Europe, with nearly 600 candidates at the last count, on a pro-democracy, pro-accountability, anti-sleaze ticket, it will most likely accumulate a large bloc of MEPs, with real influence – a larger bloc than either Labour, or Tory, or UKIP could ever hope to achieve. This will be unprecedented.

In any case, a vote for the fringe UKIP would be entirely counter-productive, since it has been shown to be abusing the expense and allowance systems as much in Europe as Labour or the Tories have in the UK.

Lord Tebbit complacently believes he is encouraging people to vote for benign sheep on the fringes of politics. If people vote for Libertas, they will actually be voting for a sizable pan-European party committed to reform, with real teeth. How refreshing it will be to have a meaningful option.

Should we pity the poor hardworking MPs?

One of the commonest reasons made by MPs for their disputed expense claims, is that such claims ‘slip through the net’ because MPs have taken their eyes off the ball, so busy are they with working for the electorate.

Huge workloads would not constitute an acceptable ‘excuse’ for equally busy people in other jobs.

Salaried nurses, tradesmen of all sorts, teachers, small business owners, doctors, and countless others all over the country are expected to work however long it takes to perform their duties, without making such ‘careless’ errors. Most do not use hard work as a way of legitimising false claims.

Is this a perfect example of how some MPs, detached from the people they are supposed to serve see themselves above the laws that they have helped to create?

Stamp Out Sleaze

Libertas has launched a 'Stamp Out Sleaze' campaign, aiming to put an end to the abuse of taxpayers' money in the name of the EU.

It is interesting to observe some of the other parties seeking to occupy the moral high ground in wake of the latest revelations.  Let us just hope for their sake the journalistic microscope of enquiry does not turn to MEPs expenses.

Whatever has happened at Westminster surely bears little comparison to the systematic abuse of taxpayer's money that has been taking place in Brussels.  

We have committed to a series of five pledges, which all our MEPs undertake to adhere to when elected.

You can view our 'Stamp Out Sleaze' campaign at:

http://www.stampoutsleaze.co.uk/

Declan Ganley on The Daily Politics Show attacking Dennis McShane

All the mainstream political parties have been getting a lot of flak in the last few days - and quite deservedly in my view. Here's Declan taking Labour's  Dennis McShane to account. Dennis's deliberate misleading of people on various key issues is an eye opener:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00kntpp/The_Daily_Politics_19_05_2009/

A message from Peter Lloyd

World first: star in your own ad for Libertas

This week, Libertas is launching a revolutionary advertising campaign on the internet: in keeping with our mission to return Europe to the people, we’re asking anyone who supports our cause to make an ad for us.

Instead of one big corporate TV spot, we’re creating thousands of individual “people ads” - it’s grassroots, democratic advertising.

Here’s an example below. Please click on this link today (http://libertas.thisad.co.uk) and make your very own ad, which will then automatically run on sites like MySpace and help get the vote out.

It only takes a couple of minutes, it’s completely free, and most importantly, it lets you spread the word and convince others to vote Libertas on June 4!

Thank you,

Robin Matthews

Trust in politicians is dead. They are traitors to their country.

This has been the darkest point in the history of British politics. Trust in politicians is dead.

Politicians right across the board have been exposed with their fingers in the till, and all they can say is that it was the system at fault. It’s disgusting. We should be able to trust our politicians enough to give them a suitcase full of used notes and say ‘just take what you think is right’. We shouldn’t have to implement a system of detailed controls to check that they aren’t fiddling the system!

Politicians are the guardians of our society. If we can’t trust them not to rob from us, then we certainly can’t trust them to run the economy, to handle massive business contracts, to run the NHS, to look after our personal information and so on.

These people are traitors to their country. They have irreparably damaged the entire political system. Full disclosure is the only way that we can drag the political class out of its current depression. That’s why this week we have made a series of ground-breaking pledges about how we will behave if elected. I strongly urge all other parties to follow suit.

It’s no longer simply a case of making sure that this doesn’t happen again. Too much damage has been caused. Our party leaders need to take a strong lead on this and completely rethink the way they do politics. If Libertas can make these promises, why can’t they?

-Robin Matthews

The most undeserved political rise in history

UKIP’s sudden boost in the polls is the most undeserved political rise in the history of Britain. The expense scandal has led to a massive 12% protest swing to UKIP in the latest poll, boosting them to 19% from their previous position on 7%. I am shocked.

There is no party that could deserve public support less if people are angry over expenses. UKIP lost two of its twelve MEPs to fraud charges, both Nigel Farage and Robert Kilroy-Silk employed their wives, they refuse to publish their expenses and UKIP’s MEPs are the laziest in Brussels, voting just 60% of the time. They have done nothing to deserve public support over expenses.

UKIP were well on their way to losing most of their seats in this election, having dropped 9% in the polls from their 2004 high point of 16%. They’ve done nothing for five years, apart from waste tax payers’ money on their lavish lifestyles in Brussels.

I am livid that in the same week that Libertas has launched a series of sleaze-busting pledges designed to stamp out sleaze in Britain, UKIP is gaining by default from this current scandal having done absolutely nothing to earn it. Bitter? You bet I am.

- Robin Matthews

Find out what your MEPs do in your name

Click on this link http://www.votewatch.eu/

Paul Forrester

Hello, my name is Paul Forrester and I am the Libertas candidate for the London constituency in the European elections on June 4th this year. May I tell you a little about myself, to assist you in making an informed decision at the ballot box.

I stood for election because, whilst I sincerely believe in Europe’s future, I feel that Brussels has become remote from its electorate. It has become unaccountable and has little more than a democratic veneer. For example, no EU accounts have been independently approved for the past 14 years showing a lack of determination by Brussels to be financially transparent to its own electorate.

I have been a solicitor for over 25 years, am married to a teacher with 2 children, aged 24 and 22, both completing post-graduate studies. I have been associated with the London Borough of Croydon since my schooldays when I met my wife. She, her parents and both my children were born and raised in Croydon. We continue to live and work in the Borough.

I am not a career politician. My aim is to contribute towards achieving a more democratic, a more accountable Europe, a Europe we can all believe in.

Why Libertas?

First France and the Netherlands voted against constitutional change, and more recently, Ireland voted against the Lisbon Treaty. These referenda show the anxiety of the electorate. Rather than now seeking a mandate from the entire EU electorate, Brussels manoeuvres towards a further Irish referendum. This is hardly democracy.

Greater democracy and accountability by Brussels towards its electorate has not and cannot be achieved by national parties. What is required is a pan-European party committed to achieving such ideals.

This is why I ask you to vote for me as the candidate for Libertas, the only pan-European party, the party committed to democracy, accountability and transparency in Europe.

Vote for democracy. Vote Libertas!

Manesh Padhiar

Hello, my name is Manesh (Max) Padhiar and I am the Libertas candidate for the constituency of London, England in the European elections on June 4th later this year. I thought I should tell you a brief background about myself to help you make an informed decision in the ballot box.

I’m fighting in this election because I’m really concerned about the bureaucracy filtering from Brussels; this is not the democracy of today’s times regarding red tapes imposed on normal hard working people. It is a shame to hear abuse of tax payers money, as bureaucrats with dream salaries who still need more from tax payers to fulfill their expense claims, where the money should be used to help the people in need instead of useless expenses. This is more needed now then ever in the time of global financial down turns.

I am a Kenyan born Asian and have been a British citizen since 1973.I was educated and brought up in south London and now live in northwest London with wife and two children.
I currently run a small hardware business which has suffered since the collapse of the construction industry here. I understand the pressures the recession is putting on hard-working families all over England. I know what it means to see your bills shoot up just as your weekly wage struggles to meet ends. And being in retail it is more hard for people with less surplus money to spend for their small luxuries.

I am a local well known businessman for last 15 years took control over the needs for the community since the business has been established for several years. I serve the public with honest and professional help for their needs. It gets harder for the aged within my area to find reliable and honest service.

So what are Libertas’ and my priorities?

Because the economy is in an unprecedented mess, Libertas and I must try to ensure that every penny spent by Europe is channeled to help small businesses in order that we can safeguard our financial future, and employment for our children and generations to come.

Libertas will make the EU truly open and accountable like never before. We want to publicize the way decisions are made and who makes them, so that we can make Europe work for its people.

Because Europe has been run in secrecy by élites and bureaucrats that are simply unknown to most people, I want to be part of a young movement that gives Europe back to its people.

That is why I ask you to vote for me and the new, pan-European party Libertas on June 4th.

Thank you, Manesh Padhiar

Alan Radlett

My name is Alan Radlett and Libertas has selected me as one of their candidates for the London Region. I am a Londoner through and through, born and raised in Islington and now living in Harrow. I have also had the opportunity of living and working in both a number of the E.U. countries and the United States. I feel that this experience of a wide range of different cultural attitudes has provided an important prerequisite for an M.E.P which has educated me away from the “little Englander” mentality.

For a major part of my career I have been a project manager responsible for the delivery of a range of I.T. projects. The majority of which have been delivered to time, budget and, most importantly, to client satisfaction. Part of the reason for my successful track record is the importance I place on close client relationships and the ability to honour my commitments.

If elected I will make the following pledges to both Libertas and the London Electorate. To Libertas: to work wholeheartedly to help reform the E.U in terms of both democracy and openness; and to the London electorate: to represent their interests and keep them informed of what is happening in the E.U and how it affects them.

It’s Stamp Out Sleaze Week!

Following a weekend dominated by MPs’ expense scandals, I am proud to announce that Libertas is today leading the charge to Stamp Out Sleaze.

The party is launching five pledges this week, one each day, designed to tackle the root cause of sleaze.

Our first Stamp Out Sleaze pledge is a promise from all Libertas candidates that, if elected, they will publish their expenses in detail, including receipts and explanations of what the purchase was for. Tax payers have a right to see how their cash is being spent and whether they are getting value for money.

We want to lead by example. Politics doesn’t have to be dirty. Our politicians should be people that we can trust to look after our money both wisely and frugally. That’s why we are today promising to be completely open about how we spend tax payers’ money, and I invite all the other parties to sign up to this pledge too, and together we can rebuild trust in our politicians.

The EU is broken, but Libertas can fix it.

- Robin Matthews

The EU Must Change Course

I had the pleasure of attending an Open Europe event with three prominent British MEPs Gisela Stuart, Lord Trimble and Sarah Ludford and the Conservative MP David Heathcoat-Amery. One thing from the whole event was clear - the EU is not working properly. The MEPs and MPs know it full well but haven't been capable of doing anything about it, and that position is unchanged.
Libertas can change the morass in Brussels because it can get support right across Europe and be powerful at the heart of Europe as a result. It will have democratic legitimacy.
Everything cross checks for Libertas, so let's get the cross in the right place on 4th June!

June 4th can be more than just 'a wake up call' for British politics

Some UK MP's, who are currently under scrutiny from the media, are complaining about moving goalposts - they are complaining that expenses they incur in the legitimate performance of their duties is now somehow 'fair game' for public vilification.

In part, this is due to the language that even 'honest' MP's are using to explain their claims. They are saying that their claims are 'according to the guidelines'. 

But, forget about whether these claims follow all the guidelines, the question surely is 'are these claims morally right?'

Lord Tebbit recognises this, and is urging people not to vote for the major parties. He thinks that if people act on this advice, it will act as a shot across the bows to the bigger parties, to clean up their acts.

I agree with this. It will. But what Lord Tebbit seems to fail to have grasped, is that, if people vote Libertas, their 'protest' vote - for a pan-European party - becomes far more than a slap on the wrist for the bigger parties, but a way of affecting the European political stage.

June the 4th can be more than just an opportunity to cast a protest vote and telling off naughty UK MP's, it can be a real opportunity to for the first time create change and have real influence in Europe.

Another day, another demeaning headline...this time for the Tories. Nationally our main parties and their Ministers and MPs, and of course our own Prime Minister Gordon Brown and his Cabinet, have been completely discredited. There can be no excuses. These professional politicians will still attempt to tell you, the public, that they are the best people to run your country. Yet we’re all now pretty convinced that this is actually not the case.

Yet as the European elections draw near, there seems to me still to be a disarming level of disengagement with European politics. Given that even more power than that of our national state is wielded by the ‘super state’ of the European Union, and that even larger levels of dishonesty, corruption and foul play have taken place over the last 14 years and more, it seems astonishing that we do not have the same drive or need to name, shame and hold to account as we do here in the UK – and we must if Europe is to work and meet its full and very real potential.

Exercising our disdain at our current nation’s representatives and their corrupt behaviour seems a little futile if we, the people, fail to do something about the anti-democratic, often corrupt and plain farcical way the European Parliament and its Members conduct themselves. The EU must be representative of all Member States and operate with a level of integrity missing from politics at present, in order to safeguard the future of the European Union. European politics has to evolve to work and Libertas are the only credible alternative for the future. This is why I am passionate and fully behind Robin Matthews and Libertas in the UK and agree when they say ‘Europe can work’.

Deaf Ear to Democracy

In an incredible display of arrogance and disrespect for the will of the people, members of the European Parliament will have a lengthy debate tonight on the implementation of the Lisbon Treaty. That’s right, the Lisbon Treaty, the same Treaty that Libertas defeated in Ireland and - according to the EU's own rules - is now dead.

Apparently, the bureaucrats in Brussels don’t care what the people think. And the truth is, they don’t need to. Because, right now there is no one to hold them to account.

That’s why the movement you are building right now is so important. It’s up to you whether or not Europe will be accountable to its people. Libertas is our last chance - our only chance - to make sure we have democracy at the heart of the European Union.

The European Elections are only 29 days away. Please email everyone in your contact book. Ask your friends. And get ONE more person to join the movement today.

http://www.libertas.eu/spread-the-word

The MEPs will debate a total of five different reports for this anti-democratic debate, including the Parliament’s new role and responsibilities in implementing the Lisbon Treaty. This discussion is a perfect example of the inherent disrespect the EU has for the democratic views of European citizens, and the lack of accountability to which we are strongly opposed.

This morning Libertas Chairman, and leader of the winning “No” campaign in the 2008 Irish referendum, Declan Ganley said, “Members of the European Parliament are completely out of touch with reality. Instead of debating real issues like how to solve the economic crisis, they are spending resources on something which does not exist because it has been rejected by the people who were allowed a vote on it.

This displays their arrogance, their disrespect for democracy and their waste of taxpayers’ money".

No wonder multiple newspapers across Europe have now confirmed that Brussels is living in fear of our movement, the Libertas movement. What those bureaucrats fear most is a movement of the people. Because they know that if millions of us act together, as Europeans, we will create a new hope for the future – a Europe where Brussels is efficient, focused on creating jobs and restoring our economy, and is overseen by the people.

Please email everyone in your contact list. Ask your friends. And get one more person to join the movement today.

http://www.libertas.eu/spread-the-word

The Libertas movement is gaining tremendous momentum across Europe. We have united the leading figures of the “No” campaigns in France, Ireland and the Netherlands (Declan Ganley, Philippe de Villiers and Eline van den Broek) who worked tirelessly to make sure that the people in their countries were given a vote.

But, now, we need YOU. Our movement is in your hands. You are it. The new hope for Europe will live or die based on what you do now.

So, if you want a strong Europe, a democratic Europe where only elected leaders make the law; if you want a referendum on any Constitution; if you want a real solution to the economic crisis; if you want to hold Brussels to account; if you want to renew the hope that we all had for Europe, then help build the first true party of Europe. A party dedicated to openness, accountability, transparency and democracy.

There are millions of others like you who want a new Europe – they are your friends, your work colleagues, your family members, your neighbours, and members of your community and now we need you to get them to join our cause.

Have a say in your future.

On June 4^th 2009 most people will get home and turn on the news and find out that this particular day played host to the European elections. They will either have forgotten to vote, or simply won’t care, or, arguably worse, will be so disillusioned with the undemocratic process, actively chose not to vote.

 

The ramifications of not voting and ensuring yours, and your children’s rights to democratic, accountable and transparent governance in Europe is immense, and I personally do not want to deliver my children into a future where they are ultimately powerless. Generations of peoples have fought and given their lives in countries across the world for democratic goverment and we, collectively as a nation are about to give that right away, for good, on June 4^th unless the powers that be are contested.

 

What has happened for all of us to become so disengaged with politics that we have allowed those running Europe to continue as they do? As a nation we have switched off because for too long the EU has not been listening to the people. For too long, they’ve been making decisions in their best interests, not the people. For too long, they’ve been spending public money lining their pockets, not investing in the infrastructure of a united, cooperative Europe. And now, if you do not go out and cast your vote at the ballot box in June, there’s every chance they’ll get away with this forever onwards. Article 48 of The Lisbon Treaty is self-amending, which means those running Europe can change the rules and do whatever they want, whenever they want.

 

If you, like me, think there is something basic, something fundamentally flawed with this, then whichever way you normally vote, cast your vote on June 4^th for Libertas. Use your vote to demonstrate your concern at giving your powers to an undemocratic, unelected elite and help build and invest that vote in a better Europe for our future. 

Whether you're red or blue, Libertas is for you!

Politics is often a tricky subject to raise with people. Folk tend to be very wary about letting anyone know which end of the political spectrum they sit. This is one of the reasons I was nervous about immersing myself in such a 'dangerous' topic.

But, I discovered that talking about the three 'Y's' that Libertas is advocating (of democracy, transparency and accountability) is an uncontroversial pastime. I've never come across anyone who disagrees with the Libertas point of view.

Regardless of whether people happen to be on the right or left, or somewhere in between, if they believe in a democratic process, with politicians who are answerable to the voters, and who do not cloak their actions in secrecy, they listen and accept the Libertas viewpoint.

Because of this, whatever people's political colour, I am urging them to lend Libertas their vote on June 4th, so that we can fix a badly executed idea. Europe's a great idea on paper, it's just a shame that the people in Brussels have made such a hash of it.

If you can't join us in Rome, join us online!

Over 1000 Libertas leaders, members, volunteers, supporters and special guests are joining us tomorrow in Rome for our first Libertas convention.

From 11am CET (10am GMT) we'll be streaming the convention live on http://www.libertas.eu.

Libertas Impact!

You know that you are making progress when you see others adapting to your view. This is what is happening to Libertas as the Conservative party suddenly starts talking about really doing something on the Lisbon Treaty. It is quite reasonable to ask why the Conservatives have been so quiet for so long on Europe. The answer, as everyone really knows, is that they are, and have been split, and would rather hide that split behind inaction, than bravely take up the major battles that are involved in reforming the EU. This has been bad for Britain.

Whatever contortions the Conservatives perform, they cannot alter the fact that the Conservatives' influence in the EU Parliament is small with just 27 MEPS out of 785. This is especially true as they have withdrawn from the main right wing group, the EPP.

It cannot alter the fact that the views on action that we in Libertas have in common with the Conservatives have a much better chance of being enacted in Brussels by a strong Pan European party - Libertas - with a clear purpose rather than one of the national parties trying to cobble together agreements with other small national parties.

The Conservatives have not been running a major campaign against the Brussels system of unaccountable civil servants running the show - Libertas has!

The Conservatives have not called for the EU commissioners to be elected - Libertas has!

The Conservatives have not been calling for more democracy in the EU government - Libertas has!

The Conservatives may be doing well in the natiinal polls but when it comes to Europe you should lend your vote to the party best positioned to reform the EU - Libertas
Here is a link to William Hague's article in the Times with the possible new policy on Europe!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6188749.ece

People are smart. Let's treat them that way.

I have spent over 20 years in the marketing and advertising business. I have always been encouraged to think that the best way to get people to grasp a message, is to provide them with the facts that support that message.

For example, I may have a beautiful house. I may tell you that and you might believe me. However, if I produce in front of you a photograph which demonstrates that it is indeed beautiful, you are much more likely to accept that message.

This applies as much to the European Union. The problem is, people are unaware of the facts, so don't reach a conclusion. But, people are smart, and when given the facts, they will reach a conclusion of their own...

Facts which support the reality that the EU is undemocratic in the way it operates:

All 27 EU Commissioners are appointed, not elected. Members of the European Court of Justice are appointed, not elected. Remember, Europe is now the place where 4 out of 5 of our laws in the UK are now created! There are even plans to appoint (not elect) a President of Europe. Imagine if President Obama hadn't been elected and they'd just appointed a successor to George Bush?

I invite you to draw your own conclusions.

The most supreme irony is that if the EU was a country itself, and had to pronounce judgement on whether it could enter the EU, it would have to say 'no' - because it isn't democratic enough!

Libertas launches Blogads campaign

Libertas’ innovative new media campaign has reached new heights following the launch of a “blogads” campaign.

The adverts, which link to the Libertas website will be EU-wide and on a variety of topics. The first will feature on some of the UK’s most influential and popular political blogs, including Guido Fawkes.

Libertas can now reach out to the millions of people that check these blogs every day, and offer them the chance to stand up to the unelected Brussels bureaucrats who are trying to take more power for the EU, bypassing the views of the people of Europe.

Robin Matthews, Libertas Party Leader in the UK says:

"What this kind of innovative e-campaigning allows us to do is highlight exactly how badly all major national parties have let down British voters. It's not just that Labour have broken their promise to hold a referendum, or that the Tories are toothless and aimless in the face of Brussels. It is that their MEPs have gone totally native as well, voting themselves massive pay increases while British families go to the wall. It's time that somebody held them to account.''

Where are the democrats? We see them dwindling away, even in Westminster, the Mother of Parliaments. The decline in representative government is reconfirmed every time the Government announces a policy to the media first rather than to Parliament. The latest example was the self-parodic announcement by Gordon Brown on his own website of flat-rate allowances for MPs - virtual government by internet pronunciamento!

The technocrats say it's all too complicated for the people, or even the people's representatives, to decide. Back in 1975 some argued as a reason for not voting in a plebiscite that it was for the elected representatives of the people to decide on any fundamental issue facing the nation. If that was true then - and MPs did combine, even to topple unpopular governments - it is not so today, when the people can no longer leave it to their elected representatives to exercise anything resembling the popular will - paradoxically often better reflected in the Second Chamber.


That's why Libertas helps to remind Government and Opposition that the people are beginning - slowly, perhaps - to articulate the demand that the trend to 'elective dictatorship' be finally reversed.

Cut-price democracy

The Shadow Chancellor predicts that in today's budget, Alistair Darling will 'forecast the longest recession that Britain has had since World War II'.

Today we also see the vote in Strasbourg on whether the 120 million Euro deficit in MEPs controversial secondary pension scheme, will be plugged by taxpayers money – a pledge guaranteed by the European Parliament.

All this in the same week that former UKIP MEP, Tom Wise, faces possible criminal charges for false accounting and allegedly laundering some £40,000 of his expenses.

Is it any wonder that the electorate has lost its faith in European politics, when daily it seems that its agents abuse their position and disregard the money of those that they represent. Once again it is brought into sharp relief that the disparity between reality, and the imaginings of the current EU machine, is a widening gulf.

Voting for any of the traditional, national parties will just mean more of the same.

Only a pan European party will have the power to affect real change. Only Libertas is capable of delivering the change we need.

Why Vote Libertas?

I used to vote Liberal Democrat in the European elections, because they were pro-Europe, but last year , in the Lisbon treaty votes in Parliament, the Liberal Democrats changed their minds and refused to support the proposal for a referendum on the Treaty showing to my mind that they were not democrats at all despite their title. If the Liberal Democrats had voted in favour of a referendum then there is a good chance that we would have had one.
Yet again politicians have shown contempt for the people

London Launch Photos

Three pictures from the London launch:

The confusion between activity and progress

It seems to me that the Brussels machine has turned into a huge and unwieldy monster. There are thousands of civil servants and thousands of lobbyists talking to each other. The estimate is that there are some 15,000 lobbyists in Brussels. 

These lobbyists and bureaucrats appear to use too much information as a way of diverting people's attention.

One of my favourite Winston Churchill quotes is, on writing to a friend, 'Sorry this letter is so long. I didn't have time to make it shorter'. It takes effort and time to pare things down to their essence. 

The bloated Brussels elite appear to use lazy thinking when it comes to governing Europe. There's loads of activity going on - lots of people debating, discussing, and lawmaking, scrabbling around like headless chickens pecking away. 

But how much of this activity is producing real progress? 

Libertas will slim down the waistline of this bulging bureaucratic machine. Libertas will aim to force the creation of a simple new more useful European Constitution and devolve many powers back to nation states, which after all know better on many issues how to govern themselves.

Max Burt

Max is a 44 year old Londoner. He grew up in Hampstead and now lives in west London, slap bang in between the tower blocks of Shepherd's Bush and the mansion blocks of Holland Park.

A life threatening car crash in 1999 left him with severe disabilities. He has now ‘rebuilt’ his life. After co-running a large advertising agency in his pre-accident days, Max now runs a business as a marketing consultant and spends time running a charity, aiming for more inclusion in mainstream society for people with disabilities.

He wants to run as a Libertas candidate for London, not only because he wholeheartedly agrees with the need for democracy and transparency in Europe, but also because he wants to apply his experiences as one of ‘the disabled’ to lobbying for the greater integration of all the groups that make up Londoners.

Susannah Prins

Frustration with the Government’s refusal to honor its manifesto promise of a referendum on the revised constitutional treaty lead Susannah to Open Europe – one of the UK's leading independent think tanks on the EU - where until recently she was Head of Development.

She decided to leave the think tank so that she could join the Libertas campaign full time and throw all of her energies into actively pursuing the reform of the EU. If the Lisbon Treaty is passed, it is self amending. This is our last chance for a Europe which we have a say in.

Susannah was in the core team of the “I Want a Referendum” campaign, which spearheaded the fight for a referendum on the Lisbon Treaty in Britain

"There needs to be a very clear message sent to the next British Government that willful deceit and contempt for the electorate, will not do. A vote for Libertas will deliver that message. Libertas is the first pan-European party and is the only party which is currently capable of delivering real reform. We need a truly accountable and transparent EU which we can believe in; an EU which works for you."

Susannah has a diverse background with a First from Edinburgh University in History of Art and History of Architecture. She also has a passion for opera which she continues to train in outside of work. Susannah is 26 and lives in South London.

Victoria Wood

Victoria has lived in London for twelve years, originally hailing from Somerset where she was born and her family have lived for generations.

Having trained in business and finance, she went on to pursue her passion for film and learnt the trade of movie making. She now lives in West London where she has been working in film and event management for the last seven years.

She firmly believes that the European Union as an idea is incredibly important, yet throwing our civil liberties away in pursuit of this international harmony is a grave mistake. She wants the future she hands to her children to be as full of opportunity as the one she has now. An anti-democratic Europe will not provide this.

Peter Lloyd

Peter has lived continuously in London, currently in Putney, since 1975, and is 57 years old. Peter has spent most of his working career in the financial services industry, marketing shares in publicly quoted companies to investors, and witnessing at first hand the phenomenal growth in importance of London as a global financial centre.

In the last few years he has worked independently allowing him to focus on additional projects, especially charity work, and more recently researching and writing a book on individual liberty and the British constitution.

He believes that there is a crisis in democracy and that Libertas is the only party committed to addressing this problem head on, and that by being the first pan-European political party it is the most suited to reform the over-centralised, increasingly undemocratic and secretive EU. He believes that Libertas can cause a revolution in thinking within the EU itself, and a major shift in the attitude of the people of Europe towards the EU, by causing improvements in accountability, transparency, representation and in promoting value for money for Europe’s citizens.

Dominique Field

Dominique was born in 1951 in Tunisia. She was educated there and in France, where she studied Business at the Ecole des Cadres and Art History at the Ecole du Louvre. She lived for 5 years in the Far East, where she wrote a thesis on Chinese Ceramics at the National Palace Museum, Taipei, married an Englishman and had her first daughter.

After accompanying her husband to the INSEAD business school in Fontainebleau, France, she moved to Twickenham in 1984 and had her second daughter.

Both children are now independent and Dominique devotes her time to charitable and voluntary work. She works as a docent, leading visiting groups of children at the Royal Academy and as a volunteer at the Education Department of National Trust properties.

Dominique is standing as a Libertas candidate because, having been brought up in France and having lived in London for 25 years, she believes that she has a unique perspective on the European Union and is concerned that the European ideal should not be lost in corruption, bureaucracy and obfuscation.

Herbert Crossman

No one said politics should be boring, and Herbert Crossman brings his own brand of enthusiasm with him. Famous for hanging upside down in Trafalgar Square to protest against the "take, take, take attitude" of the British Government, Herbert is now keen to expand his protest to include Brussels.

He has a strong interest in exposing the abuse of MEPs' expenses in Brussels, as well as combatting wasteful EU projects that fritter away taxpayers' money.

He has political experience as a former Liberal Democrat councillor and also stood for the Referendum party in 1997.

Why I have become involved in politics

I recently heard someone describe two types of politicians.

Firstly, weather vanes. People who blow with the prevailing wind - in other words, those who espouse whatever the latest focus group says. In my view, these weather vanes are probably in the majority.

Secondly, there are signposts. People who very clearly point out a route forward, and only deviate from that route when convinced of a better alternative. It seems to me that politicians like this are in the minority. 

These are politicians with conviction. With conviction comes integrity. This I respect.

I have become involved in politics because I believe that the public deserves public servants with opinions - opinions that, regardless of whether you agree with them or not, are firmly held. Having the conviction to stick with opinions demonstrates an integrity which I think should be present in many more public servants than now.

The skill comes I think in knowing exactly when your own opinions should change. Having the integrity of your own conviction is one thing, but this needs always to be balanced by recognising and respecting the democratic process.

Championing better inclusion for disabled people

After my accident in 1999, I quickly realised that the group of people called 'the disabled' frequently find themselves on the fringes of society -  not only do disabled people face many physical barriers, but they are also often pre-judged. 

As a consequence, I have become involved in various organisations representing people with disabilities and their better inclusion both in the physical world and in people's minds.

In the past I have been on the DWP's steering committee Images of Disability, aiming to create more positive portrayals of people with disabilities in advertising. 

Currently, I am an Associate Member of the Employers Forum on Disability (EFD) and the Broadcasting & Creative Industries Disability Network (BCIDN).

A bit about me

I'm a 44 year old Londoner. I grew up in Hampstead and I now live in west London, slap bang in between the tower blocks of Shepherd's Bush and the mansion blocks of Holland Park, right by the new Westfield shopping centre.

After a life threatening car crash in 1999 which left me with severe disabilities, I have now 'rebuilt' my life. So major were my injuries that, after my accident, most people expected me to sit in front of the TV all afternoon. This is not the case!

Apart from running a business as a marketing consultant (I also used to co-run a large advertising agency), I spend the majority of my time running my new charity Diversability, aiming for more inclusion in mainstream society for people with disabilities.

In my spare time, I regularly indulge my twin passions for my beloved Arsenal and the theatre (one of the good things about using a wheelchair is that its relatively easy to get tickets to both).

My road back to recovery culminated in March when I married my partner Justine.