Last week Alan Craig, the former leader of the Christian Peoples Alliance, declared he had applied to join UKIP.
In my blog post I said it was a marriage made in heaven, but I now think I was wrong. Having read his party’s 2010 general election manifesto, Not by Bread Alone, it is clear that it is an extraordinary and almost inexplicable decision.
Amongst the bonkers stuff about the place of religion in civil society, the evils of gay marriage and abortion, and some unpleasant generalisations about muslims and jihad, there are some surprisingly liberal and genuinely progressive policies. Here are a few extracts:
A more equal society
Free market capitalism, if left to itself, does not produce a downward trickle from rich to poor. Over the past thirty years, under both Labour and the Conservatives, share of income and wealth has been transferred from the poor of Britain and the world, to the rich.
The experience of low status and low esteem that encourages violence, obesity, transient relationships or teenage pregnancy must also be approached by policies that go beyond forcing people into the workforce.
We will back measures to introduce a new 50p tax rates on earnings over £150,000.
A transaction tax, such as the proposed Robin Hood tax, will be introduced to generate funds for green and sustainable investment in both Britain and in the developing world.
Greening the global economy
The CPA seeks a global economy which operates within the ecological limits of the planet; eradicates poverty and tackles inequality; and ensures the human rights of all are met.
Carbon rationing is needed. We back an EU trading system which sets a control total for the industries within the regime and lets the market in carbon allocations chase down the most efficient ways of making cuts.
Unrestrained market forces are not compatible with care for the poor and stewardship of the earth.
Tackling the jobs crisis
The CPA will continue to act as the Champion of a Living Wage for all workers. We also want a better work and life balance for all, not just the well-off who can afford it.
The CPA will enforce the provisions of the Working Time Directive, which prevents working in excess of 48 hours per week. We will end the UK’s opt out option.
The CPA will also support a Living Wage for all workers of £7.40 an hour to ensure those on low incomes are not forced to work excessive hours to make ends meet.
Strangers into citizens
We would tackle discrimination and embrace the talents of asylum seekers, as many successful asylum applicants are highly trained and dedicated individuals. It makes no sense to leave them on the scrapheap, unable to use their professional skills to provide for themselves, their families, or contribute to the British economy.
[Asylum] applicants will be treated as if they were British citizens with full access to state support and the right to work.
We will tackle the problem of illegal immigration by an amnesty that brings irregular workers into mainstream society, paying taxes.
A time of jubilee for the world
Aid will be given in grants and not loans and not tied to poor countries opening up their markets to powerful multinationals from rich countries.
We want the unpayable debts of the world’s poorest countries to be cancelled in full without strings attached.
I find it hard to comprehend how someone who led his party and signed that manifesto, made those promises, just four years ago can now find a home in UKIP. Because not one of the things I’ve quoted above would find favour with the Faragists.
If Alan Craig has really changed his mind so completely that he now rejects everything the CPA ever stood for and embraces the climate change-denying, isolationist, hard right turbo-Toryism of UKIP, he might as well announce his conversion to Satanism: it would be less of a surprise.
forestgatedotnet 