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Hello Kim
I have added a flow chart into my blog that was missed when I first posted it.
I cannot get the formatting right over there and would really like a respoitory to place all of this in.
I am not giving up I have tried to contact journalists via Twitter, FB, direct email etc NO_ONE is INTERESTED!
Signed petitions which go nowhere, Electoral commission is worse than useless and IF a human rights case can be brought it needs to be soon
We lose access to ECHR 31st December 2020 and you can bet your bottom dollar 1st January 2021 will see whar HR we have now wiped out.
Ell
RE: @Postalvoteprobe have emailed him several times no reply?
I have just sent a copy of my blog to my local newspaper editor. Will keep you informed of developments – DO NOT HOLD YOUR BREATH!
If anyone does manage to persuade thier CLP to audit non voters I am happy to crunch numbers for them.
otherwise for now I need to “Get a Life” as that despicable TORY MP told a constiuent who asked about living on £94 per week sick pay.
Latest version of my spreadsheet APPENDIX – have now added Dover plus UXbridge & south Ruislip per a twitter request
Email me if you want a copy in PDF – does not display very well on my blog
Ell – I am glad to hear you say: “I am not giving up I have tried to contact journalists via Twitter, FB, direct email etc NO_ONE is INTERESTED!” Your reply has reassured me that I would probably not have accomplished very much at all by succumbing to the pressure to join Facebook, Twitter or the like, and the conscious avoidance of such spaces has greatly helped me to maintain my sanity! I really don’t know how these platforms function so I would be fumbling in the dark trying to get my feeble sound-bites noticed by the high profile aficionados who attract all the attention.
Still, there is no reason why you and others should not keep trying if you are familiar with these spaces and how they are best able to publicize an important message. Gone are the days when you could just look someone up in the phone book and give them a call… so call me a dinosaur! I really feel that if we could get the team from “Led by Donkeys” interested that they could put a giant megaphone to the project. There are also a number of really good Investigative Journalists out there who would have a huge boost in getting to the bottom of this mess aided by all of the data you have so diligently collected.
You say that: “I cannot get the formatting right over there and would really like a repository to place all of this in.” I do not have an alternative space, but I do have a formula for turning your data tables into easily transferable, customized to fit images you will be better able to post on your Blog and elsewhere. “Bear with;” I am no Techie. In an effort I should realistically describe as the blind as a bat leading the marginally visually impaired, I will try to explain how I have managed to spatially manipulate the content that I posted on my long neglected Blog.
When I was out in Indonesia as a Medical volunteer after the Boxing Day tsunami one of the local Doctors taught me a how to use PowerPoint to accomplish a whole lot more than creating training presentations. I was able to produce a complete floor plan of the Surgical treatment area and sterile core to illustrate a proposal I needed to present to WHO. Now, I routinely use PowerPoint for my design concept drawings as I find it really quick and easy to use for this task, but you can create data tables too if you do not need all the special features of Excel..
Creation Space: I chose PowerPoint to create my controlled print boxes and I used the simple “Table” feature in Power Point to create data tables. I use PP because you can expand your content well beyond the edges of the slide you are working on and then adapt it to fit the area you want latter on. Do not feel confined to the slide space, just extend sideways as much as you require, but use other options to stay as compact as possible. I also use a pastel background colours within my tables as this makes it easier for dyslexics to read.
Font & Fudging: Then it is important to select a compact font because it appears to be the width of your document that’s awkward to accommodate. I use a narrow san-serif font like Arial Narrow, but I prefer one called Agency FB; as a dyslexic I find this one easier to read and I always avoid Serif fonts like Times New Roman for the same reason. The font size can be enhanced using “Bold” and even “Text Shadow” to keep the text tight, but readable. By fudging I mean organizing the size of the title boxes to give you more height than width. The numbers below take up far less space, so it is just one large box at the top.
Capture as an Image: It does not matter if your table stretches out past the edge of the screen as your next move is to capture your completed table in its entirety and use the “group” function to unify it as a block image. Then all you need to do is “Copy” and select “Paste Special” from the “Paste” menu. You can now turn your table into one of several types of picture file.
Adapting the Image: Once this is accomplished the picture can be adapted to fit the space where you want it displayed. Within reason you can distort the image to increase the height and diminish the width by differing proportions to make your table fit into the posting area on your blog page. If someone wants to reprint your data all they need do is copy and paste what is now a picture.
Using this technique you can make your tabulated data easily readable on your own Blog space and easily transferable to be added to an email or document you send or print out. Keep signing the Petitions and sharing them with your friends; if you look for a much earlier post #50261 that I created on February 17, 2020 at 08:25 you will find a total of nine related Petitions calling for investigations into various aspects of this rigged Election including my own. We cannot give up as All Votes Must Count: it is time to “Rescue our Watchdog!”
PS: I will not be in the least bit offended if one of the more Techie inclined younger contributors has a far easier and more efficient way to fudge the awkward dimensions of a data table into a blog post: please share.
Hello Kim
thanks for the tips re editing my spreadsheet to fit blog pages.
I have the file as an excel spreadsheet and a PDF however the blog site I chose will not let me post either of these
If anyone wants copies email me at [email protected]
I have checked out cloud storage for a repository but decided the way I store files now on an external hard drive is what I will stick with. However if anyone wants to start a repository and want to add copies into there I am willing to do that.
We need to bear mind that 31st December we lose access to ECHR and 1st January 2021 those HR we have now will vanish!
TIME IS TICKING to get an audit of non voters.
ALL Constituency Labour parties have lists of who said they would vote but did not.
A simple task to contact these folks and ask why. If a significant number say they were elft off register or did not get PV Pack that is all that is needed for an investigation!
Cannot for the life of me understand why so many CLPs are unwilling to do this – almost like they are happy for us to continue to be tortured by this corrupt Crime Minister & his crime syndicate.
“Cannot for the life of me understand why so many CLPs are unwilling to do this – almost like they are happy for us to continue to be tortured by this corrupt Crime Minister & his crime syndicate.”
One of the main reasons for the results of the election is that the Labour party has been badly divided. The Corbyn Leadership and the ,members on one side and the PLP and party apparatus on the other. When you look at it this way you see that some within the labour party actually got the results they fought for ever since Corbyn was elected as leader, This may be the reason, or one of the reasons why there is such an apathy from within the party. Also remember after this deadly blow to the party, produced by this result, the labour party has been on the defensive and would be very conscious that to question the results would be to appear as bad losers. After all this has already been rehearsed in the States where the Democrats tried to discredit Trump’s win by all sorts of means including the spurious Russiagate.
Hello SA
I do not disagree with what you say, however this could have been done quietly and only made public if significant numbers were found to have had thier vote supressed which would entail action by the suppressed voters as it would be human rights issue and not action by labour party.
Fear of being accused of being “sore losers” stopping LP acting is betrayal of memebers and campaigners who worked so hard.
Shame on them! Enabling Tories to this day!
I have created a flowchart to show this as I really do not think people know how the system of Individual Electoral registration works.
These notes expand on that.
Register to Vote.
Responsibility for preparing electoral registers was taken away from the overseers of the poor and given to local authorities with the passage of the Representation of the people act 1918. The ‘head of household’ was responsible for registering everyone who lived at the address.
The electoral registration system was changed again with the passage of the Electoral registration and administration act 2013. The new system is called Individual Electoral Registration (IER).This gave everyone who is eligible to vote control over their own registration.
It introduced a new online application process, IER Digital Service, managed by the Cabinet Office. This allows for the personal data provided by the applicant, to be matched with data held by the Department of Work & Pensions (DWP), in order to verify the identity of the applicant.
The transition to IER began in June 2014 in England and Wales and September in Scotland, following the Independence Referendum.
During the transition almost 90% of those already on the register were automatically data matched and added to the new register. Those people who were not successfully matched were invited to register to vote.
If you don’t know whether you are registered to vote, it’s possible to check under this new system by contacting the Elections Office at your local authority.
Personal Data required for IER application which is input to IER Digital Service online by an Applicant or from the Local Authority uploading information via their Electoral Management System (EMS) which was received from a paper application form.
• The applicant’s full name.
• The address where the applicant is resident on the date of the application and in respect of which they are applying to be registered.
• Any address where the applicant has ceased to reside in the 12 months prior to the date of the application and, where that address is not in the UK, an indication of whether that person was registered as an overseas elector during this period.
• An indication of whether the applicant is resident at any other address, including any address where the applicant is currently registered and claims to be entitled to remain registered.
• The applicant’s date of birth or, if they are unable to provide this information, the reason why they are not able to do so and a statement as to whether the applicant is under 18 years old or aged 76 or over.
• The applicant’s National Insurance Number or, if they are not able to provide this information, the reason they are not able to do so.
• The applicant’s nationality or nationalities or, if they are not able to provide this information, the reason why they are not able to do so.
• An indication of whether the applicant requests their name to be omitted from the edited register.
• A declaration that the contents of the application are true (in practice, on the paper form, this will involve a signature or at least a mark on the form that shows that they have made the declaration).
• The date of the application.This data is matched with the DWP CIS database which is an amalgamated data source, consisting of information received from internal DWP systems, as well as other government sources, such as HMRC and possibly DVSA.
In order to perform the data match, DWP have developed an algorithm which matches the applicant’s personal identifiers (full name, National Insurance Number [NINo], and date of birth [DOB]) sent to them via the IER Digital Service, against the CIS database.The DWP matching algorithm works like a filter, the stages of which can be broadly summarised as:
• The identifiers contained in the personal record are standardised by DWP to make them more consistent with the DWP dataset (e.g. removal of spaces and hyphens from NINo)
• The personal record is compared to the records in the DWP dataset, following a sequence of matching operations:
1. Is there a record in the DWP dataset with a NINo that matches the NINo provided? If not, the personal record is flagged as No Match and no further matches are attempted.
2. Does the DWP record identified at step 1 have a DOB that matches the DOB provided? If not, the personal record is flagged as No Match.
3. Do the names on the DWP record identified at step 1 match the names provided? A series of name matches are carried out until the best match is obtained.
4. The end result is a series of match statements that describe the levels at which a record has ‘passed’ or ‘failed’ against a series of matching criteria.
5. The level of match obtained is reported back to the IER Digital Service which assigns a score to the results, indicating either success or failure.
6. The match results plus the score assigned to them are passed to the Local Authority EMS where they are displayed to the Electoral Registration OFFICE (ERO) within 24 hours.
Applicants whose identity can be verified through the DWP match are added to the register of electors at the next available update, providing the eligibility criteria (age, nationality, residence) have been met and the applicant has been positively determined.
The Local Authority must then confirm in writing that the application has been successful and must include the date that the applicant will be added to the register.
For further details and information the Local Authority must take if an applicant’s identity cannot be verified see: https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/sites/default/files/2019-11/Part%204%20Maintaining%20the%20register%20throughout%20the%20year_0.pdf
<img src=”https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=6052893853873989517#editor/target=post;postID=3834176856706812992;onPublishedMenu=allposts;onClosedMenu=allposts;postNum=0;src=postname” alt=”Register to Vote Flowchart” />
The register to vote flow chart can be downloaded here [requires Google account]
or email me
I have written up these notes about the Electoral register and the annual canvass.
As other have pointed out the 2019 annual canvas was greatly affected by the timing of the election.
As I have written under register to vote when you do so your identity must be checked before you can get onto the register. It is not difficult to see that delays in verifying identity when large numbers of persons were registering to vote close to the deadline, might lead to many people not getting onto the register in time.
For 2019 the deadline to register to vote was 26th November and for LA the deadline was 29 November in order to publish the register on 1 December.
According to press reports 660,000 people registered on 26th December, a huge number to verify identity in 3 Days
Electoral Registers.
Responsibility for preparing electoral registers was taken away from the overseers of the poor and given to local authorities with the passage of the Representation of the people act 1918. The ‘head of household’ was responsible for registering everyone who lived at the address.
In June 2014 the electoral registration system was changed again with the passage of the Electoral registration and administration act 2013. The new system is called Individual Electoral Registration (IER).For a summary of this process see Register to vote.
If you don’t know whether you are registered to vote, it’s possible to check under this new system by contacting the Elections Office at your local authority.You will remain on the electoral register unless and until:
• You are not entitled to be registered in respect of the address.
• You cease to be resident at the address or cease to satisfy the conditions for registration.
• You were registered as the result of an application for registration made by someone else (i.e. not the individual whose details are provided on the application and who has declared that the information provided is true) or your entry has been altered as the result of an application for a change of name made by someone else.Annual Canvass
Under this new system an annual canvass takes place and the revised electoral register is published on 1 December. The only exception to this rule is if there has been an election during the canvass.
A Household Enquiry Form (HEF) is sent to all properties in the registration area within the period of 1 July to 30 November. This is a paper HEF in the prescribed format and cannot be sent by email or by any other electronic means.
The HEF may be pre-printed with certain information about each person currently registered at that address namely:
• Full name and nationality.
• An indication as to whether each person listed on the form is aged 76 or over.
• An indication of whether each person is omitted from the edited register and information on how they can change their preference (‘omitted’ includes where the person has previously opted-out of the edited register or has at any time requested that their personal data is removed from the edited register until further notice under Article 21 of the General Data Protection Regulation.
• An indication as to whether each person has an existing postal or proxy voting arrangement.The HEF must be accompanied by a covering letter and a pre-addressed, pre-paid reply envelope in which the form can be returned. See examples below.
A HEF cannot be used to register people. It is a mechanism to collect information about who is resident and eligible to register at a particular address.
Any potential new electors identified (for example, where a name has been added to a HEF) will be sent an Invitation to register (ITR) and a registration application form.
By law a person who has received a HEF must provide the information that it requires to the ERO, but there is no requirement for the form itself to be returned. This includes where there are changes to the information pre-printed on the HEF or new information is being provided.
There is a criminal penalty of a fine up to a maximum of £1,000 for failing to provide the information required by the HEF to the ERO.
The penalty for providing false information to an ERO is up to six months imprisonment, an unlimited fine in England and Wales or a fine of up to £5,000 in Scotland.Revised Electoral Register
The revised version of the electoral register must be published by 1 December which applies even if the date falls on a weekend or bank holiday.
The only exception to this rule is if there has been an election during the canvass when the revised version of the electoral register must be published by 1 February of the following year.
The Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) must publish:• The full register of electors for all election types combined as far as possible into one register and containing the appropriate franchise markers.
• The edited register which is an exact copy of the full register but with the exclusion of those who have opted out of their details appearing on it.
• The list of overseas electors.The full register must contain the name, address, nationality, franchise marker and elector number of every eligible elector.
The register is divided into polling districts and each one is given a unique set of letters. Each elector is given a number which as far as is reasonably practicable, are allocated in such a way that the numbers run sequentially in each part of the register. The polling district letters and the number together are known as the elector number.
The names of electors who may only vote in certain types of elections must be prefixed in the register with certain letters called franchise markers.
E indicates that the elector is an overseas elector who is also a peer eligible to vote in the House of Lords and is only entitled to vote at European Parliamentary elections.
F indicates that the elector is an overseas elector who is only entitled to vote at UK Parliamentary and European Parliamentary elections.
G indicates that the elector is a citizen of a member state of the European Union (except a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland) who is only entitled to vote at local government elections.K indicates that the elector is a citizen of a member state of the European Union (except a Commonwealth country or the Republic of Ireland) who is entitled to vote at European Parliamentary and local government elections.
L indicates that the elector is a peer eligible to vote in the House of Lords who is entitled to vote at European Parliamentary and local government elections.
N indicate that the elector is anonymousThe table below shows an example of some of the formatting for an electoral register and an accompanying explanation in the right-hand column.
Sample Electoral Register
Elector number Franchise marker Name Address Description (not shown on register)
1 Evans, Gareth 1, The Street Ordinary elector; can vote at all elections
2 12/06/yyyy Juba, Charlotte 2, The Street Attainer; can vote if poll is on or after date shown
3 G Chamberlain, Louise 2, The Street Local government elector only
4 K Mackenzie, Scott 3, The Street Local government and European Parliamentary elector only
5 L Pack, Daniel 4, The Street Peer; eligible to vote in the House of Lords, cannot vote at a UK Parliamentary electionOther Electors
Elector number Franchise marker Name Address Description (not shown on register)
6 F Jolly, Simon Overseas elector; cannot vote at local government elections
7 Watts, Julie Service elector; can vote at all elections
8 N Anonymous elector; can vote at all electionsExample of HEF can be downloaded here
or email
[email protected] for a copy
I am working on a flow chart and write up for the process of registering for a postal vote.
Hope to publish in the next week.
Re postal votes a simple matter of delaying the sending of PV packs of those who would have voted labour would be enough to rig the results.
Ellen
Wow! This is a lot of information Ell. I am curious, what is the significance of the age over 76? I know that people over that age are still able to vote as my mother was still voting at 88. So why is this part of the questioning?
Many people do not realise that young people can get on the voting register at 16 even though they cannot vote for another two tears. I think if a huge number of 16 and 17 year olds got their name added to the register it would sent a message to the Tories… Your time will soon be up! Sadly this is only true if we are able to prevent further rigging of the Electoral System in future
By the way I think the “Sore Looser” jibe is just another lousy excuse for complacency. I can hear the tiny, whiney voice of Gavin Williamson saying we should “just shut up and go away.” That image should be enough to energize and enrage you; we cannot be beaten into submission by whiney Tory wimps.
Hello Kim
No idea of the significance of age 76 on Electoral Register – except there is comment from time to time that older folks should not vote – unfair for younger voters to have thier future decided by doddery old people or some such rubbish!
this is an interesting idea
Controversially, and to much public outcry, the Victoria Derbyshire has already been banished from the airwaves. Did you notice that now “Politics Live” has just disappeared from the schedule without warning? Obviously the Tories did not need any dissenting voices from the opposition or guests and they did not want their own MPs challenged live on air: it had to go. We inch closer to becoming a police state with total control over the state owned media. We must fight back.
So we are left with those dreadful daily “News Conferences” that are a one way indoctrination featuring Tory policy from the great leader; as uninspiring as a Tory Party political broadcast, but with supportive questioning cherry-picked from the right wing media. There are the two selected science “experts” chosen for their support of the dangerous eugenics experiment of “Herd Immunity!” Boris Johnson “wears” the loyal, quasi legitimizing powers of these two Tory science stooges like “the Emperors New Clothes,” hoping they will deflect the growing international criticism of his abandonment of UK Covid 19 reporting obligations to the WHO.
With his usual nauseating bluster Boris claims we will: “Get on top of it” as if he is talking of mounting the misses! Johnson blithely boasts of an end in sight twelve weeks hence with not a shred of evidence to support his delusional optimism. Best not to mention his cracking joke about alternative ventilator manufacturers producing equipment for a program he wanted to call “Operation Last Gasp!” He was advised that his comment really was far too sick for prime time.
Despite the increasing impact of the Pandemic, several much needed Hospitals will still close as nothing can be allowed to get in the way of the Tory stealth dismantling of the NHS. A pity he couldn’t sell that “Herd Immunity” strategy to the public; their confidence in the lying toad making disastrous decisions to sacrifice thousands of predominantly elderly patients was so unacceptable Johnson was forced to pretend he had never mentioned his “Final solution” for Social Care. Time to tone down the “many of you will lose loved ones” Churchill style rallying cry and put the onus on the public following orders: you will survive, but only if you’re good! That way if the death toll climbs you can blame public non-compliance.
One plan to “Slaughter the Sheeple” man not be foiled as his dithering over the logistics could abandon those forced into self-isolation to starve due to lack of funding and inability to access food supplies. Blame it on the confused elderly too “stupid” to order Online, blame it on lack of family support or cash strapped Councils not providing care or carers off sick; Johnson will walk away from the collateral damage unscathed as usual: it is never his fault. If Johnson can maintain his tight control of the media the public will never learn the most shocking facts. He has postponed important decisions until embarrassed into following the lead of the devolved governments – some leadership!
There are many important issues I am really passionate about aside from Covid 19 and crash-out Brexit, austerity, the plight of the homeless, destitution on Universal Credit, victimization of the disabled, our exploited and abandoned young people, but also the disastrous foreign policy towards the Palestinians, the children of Yemen killed with bombs we sell to the Saudis as well as the Persecution of political prisoner Julian Assange. None of these issues will ever be dealt with until we are able to remove this toxic Tory Government from office.
The 2019 General Election was rigged and we will continue to suffer the consequences until we Investigate the Election Result, expose the truth and overturn the vote. You were right to point out Ell, that our time to correct this injustice is limited, but we can potentially appeal to the EU as European Citizens at least until December. Impeachment may not have been resorted to for a very long time, but these are extraordinary circumstances and we cannot afford to be complacent or constrained by convention. Above all we cannot give up as Tory inaction, blunders and deliberate cruel neglect will cost lives: there is now far too much at stake.
Kim
Have emailed you contact details for 4 people involved in Led by donkeys. DM (private message sent to 2 of them on twitter Oliver & James and Private message sent to Oliver on Facebook.
Just keeping on keeping on.
Many thanks Ell. I will be focusing on preparing my appeal to professional Investigative Journalists and those who are in a better position to publicize the campaign more effectively than I can so that the message goes mainstream. I appreciate your help in locating the all important contact details to facilitate this effort and getting the information out there via the media platforms that I am not at all familiar with like Twitter and Facebook. We all have different skill sets, but working together we can sucseed in this endeavour.
We cannot allow the Covid 19 crisis to provide cover and an excuse for the Tories to get away with the Covert 2019 General Election vote rigging scandal. It is only by seeking justice to overturn Covert 2019 that we can remove this rogue Government from office to replace the blundering incompetence that now puts so many British lives at grave risk.
A progressive Government of the people would prioritize the genuine needs of the people and our precious environment. That radical change of priorities is what we all desperately need in this time of crisis. This is far to important for complacent denial and acceptance of the Covert 2019 vote rigging; we cannot afford to give up.
The representation of the people act 2000 gave everyone the right to vote by post starting with the 2001 general election. The table below shows the increase in postal voting since 1997.
The figures for 2019 will be available late in 2020 when they are published by the Electoral commission; however Lord Ashcroft poll is estimating that in 2019 the postal vote as a percentage of the valid votes was 38%.
Region Year Electorate Turnout (number of valid votes counted as % of electorate) Total number of valid votes counted Postal votes Issued Postal votes included in count Postal votes included in count as % of valid votes counted
UK 2017 46,835,433 68.80% 32,220,817 8,456,791 6,986,581 21.68%
UK 2015 46,354,197 66.22% 30,697,525 7,592,735 6,302,073 20.53%
UK 2010 45,597,461 65.11% 29,687,604 6,996,006 5,596,865 18.85%
UK 2005 44,245,939 61.37% 27,153,310 5,362,501 3,963,792 14.60%
UK 2001 44,403,238 57.26% 25,426,017 1,758,055 1,370,884 5.39%
UK 1997 43,714,673 71.57% 31,286,284 937,205 738,614 2.36%Postal vote application
The representation of the people act 2000 gave everyone the right to vote by post starting with the 2001 general election.
Electors who are registered to vote are entitled to apply for a postal vote for an indefinite period, a definite period or for a particular election.
There is no requirement for an elector to provide a reason why they want to vote by post.
A postal vote application must be made in writing, but can be in any format, letter, fax, email with a scanned signature or an absent vote application form are acceptable, as long as the personal identifier information is clear and unambiguous and is provided in the format prescribed in the regulations and as explained below.• the signature shall appear against a background of white unlined paper of at least 5 cm long and 2 cm high
and
• the applicant’s date of birth shall be configured numerically in the sequence of day, month and year, i.e. DD MM YYYY
Unlike applications to register to vote, postal vote applications cannot be made online or by telephone.
Where a registration to vote application is made online and the applicant indicates that they wish to vote by post and provides their email address, the IER Digital Service will automatically email them a postal vote application form – see example below.
The applicant can print off and complete the form, then return it to their Electoral Registration Officer.
Where the applicant does not provide their email address but indicates that they wish to vote by post, the IER Digital Service informs the ERO who sends a paper copy of the postal vote application form.
There are a number of pieces of information that must be included on a postal vote application by law. The application must be made in writing and be dated, and include the following information:• the full name of the elector.
• the address where the elector is (or has applied to be) registered to vote.
• the elector’s signature (or a request for a signature waiver – see below).
• the elector’s date of birth.
• whether the application is for a particular election (and if so, identify which one), a particular period or an indefinite period, and if it is for a particular period, it should specify that period.
• whether it is for parliamentary elections, local government elections or both.
• the address where the postal ballot pack should be sent and, if this is not the registered address, a reason for the redirection.
If an applicant is unable to provide a signature or a consistent signature due to any disability or inability to read or write, they can request that the requirement for a signature on the postal vote application (and postal voting statement) is waived. The applicant must provide with their application the reason for the request and the name and address of any person who has assisted them with completing the application.
The ERO will need to gain proof or evidence in order to be satisfied that the applicant is unable to provide a signature, be satisfied that the request for a signature waiver is genuine and is not being used as an attempt to avoid the postal vote security measures.The ERO should ensure that all applications are date-stamped upon receipt as this is particularly important in the lead-up to an election. On the last day for applications ahead of a particular election, it is also advisable for the ERO to record the time of receipt, so that they have a clear audit trail of which applications were received before and which applications were received after the deadline.
Only electors who are registered, or will be registered, can apply for a postal vote. Once the application has passed the registration check, it must be scrutinised to ensure that it satisfies the prescribed requirements set out in paragraphs. Where it does, the ERO must confirm to the elector the outcome of the application.
If applications are incomplete the ERO should, where possible, make further enquiries to obtain the missing information. If the missing information is not submitted, the application must not be allowed.
Where it appears that the elector has made a mistake when completing their postal vote application (for example, where they have transposed their date of birth figures), the ERO should contact the elector and ask them to resubmit an application form with their identifiers.
The ERO must write to all applicants to let them know whether their application has been accepted or rejected and if an application is rejected, they must give the reason(s) why it has been rejected.Any postal vote applications received after the deadline for a particular election must be disallowed for that election, and the elector notified of the fact.
If, however, it is an application for a definite or indefinite period going beyond the election, and the application meets all the prescribed requirements, the elector should be advised on the confirmation notice that their application will become valid for future elections. If the application is refused, you must notify the applicant of the decision and the reason for it.
An appeal procedure is provided for persons whose applications have been disallowed. Any person wishing to appeal must give notice to the ERO within 14 days of the date of the decision on the application and must specify the grounds of appeal.
The ERO must immediately forward the notice to the county court, together with a statement of
• the material facts which have, in the ERO’s opinion, been established in the case
• the ERO’s decision upon the whole case
• any point which may be specified as grounds of appeal.
Postal application forms may be scanned and stored electronically, or the ERO may keep the originals in paper form. In the case of Northumberland county council I have had written confirmation from them that all forms containing personal identifiers are scanned into the Local authority’s electoral management software provided by Idox/Civica.
Electors who have been allowed to vote by post must have the letter ‘A’ marked alongside their names in the register to be used in the polling station. The local authority EMS system has the facility to print registers especially for use in the polling station at a particular election.
Postal voters’ signatures are refreshed every five years.The law requires EROs, by 31 January each year, to send every absent voter (postal, proxy and postal proxy voters) whose signature on the personal identifiers record is more than five years old a notice in writing
• requiring them to provide a fresh signature if they wish to remain an absent voter
• informing them of the date on which they would cease to be entitled to vote by post or by proxy in the event of a failure or refusal to provide a fresh signature (i.e. six weeks from the date of sending the notice).
Absent voters who have been granted a waiver are not affected by the refresh provisions as they do not have a signature on the personal identifiers record.
The ERO cannot require an absent voter to refresh their signatures outside the formal refresh exercise, except where you have sent a rejection notice to a postal voter after an election on the grounds that the signature provided on the returned postal voting statement did not match the example held on the personal identifiers record (and the person continues to be shown on your records as an absent voter).
The next refresh exercise will be in January 2020 and will cover those absent voters whose signatures on the personal identifiers record will become more than five years old between 31 January 2019 and 30 January 2020.
Six weeks from the sending of the original notice, absent voters will lose their entitlement to vote by post or proxy if no response is received.
This means that absent voters have just under six weeks to return the notice or the entitlement would be lost on the last day of the six-week period.
After three weeks of the date of the original notice, if no reply is received, a reminder notice should be sent to the absent voter.
The date of birth is not part of the refresh process as set out in legislation. Existing absent voters do not need to provide their date of birth again in order for their absent vote to continue.
The notice must require the absent voter to supply a specimen of their signature, and explain that if this is not received before six weeks of the date of the notice, their absent voting facility will be cancelled.
The following information should be included in the notice to explain:
• how the required personal identifiers are used and how the personal identifiers assist in deterring misuse of the entitlement to vote by post/proxy.
• the details of the absent vote currently in place for that person and the types of elections at which the person would no longer be able to vote by post/proxy if they do not provide the required signature.
• that cancellation of the absent vote for failure or refusal to supply a new sample signature does not prevent the elector subsequently re-applying for an absent vote.
• the circumstances in which the signature requirement may be waived.
• the deadline for the ERO to receive the signature (i.e. before six weeks from the date of the notice.
Any fresh signature that is received after the deadline cannot be used to add the previous absent voter back onto the relevant absent voter record.
In this case the ERO should send the person a letter explaining that the notice cannot be accepted and that if they wish to continue to have an absent vote they must re-apply and provide their identifiers on the application.
The ERO should include an application form with the letter. There is no provision for you to pre-print the date of birth you already hold on the new application form.The ERO must notify the person in writing that their absent vote has been removed. This applies equally where the person has refused to provide a signature or has failed to respond to the notice or reminder notice.
The notice must:
• explain that the person’s absent vote has been removed because of a failure to provide a fresh signature, and that if they wish to vote they can only do so at a polling station.
• inform them of their polling station.
• remind them that they may make a fresh absent vote application, which must include their identifiers.
The ERO should include a new absent vote application form with the removal notice.
The flowchart can be downloaded here:
https://riggedge2019.blogspot.com/2020/03/postal-vote-application-flowchart.html
Issue and return of Postal voting pack
The Electoral Registration Officer is required to keep records of those applications for postal votes that have been granted.
The records must indicate
• the elector’s full name (unless the elector is registered anonymously).
• the address to which the ballot paper is to be sent.
• It should include the elector number, and if the elector is registered anonymously, their elector number must also be included.
When an election or referendum is going to be held, the ERO uses these records to instruct the printing services company to send out postal vote packs.
According to advice on Northumberland County Council website “your postal vote pack may not be sent out until 4 working days before the election”.The postal voting pack contains:
• Ballot paper
• Postal voting statement
• Envelope A
• Envelope B
The elector should follow these instructions:
1. Mark their vote on the ballot paper by putting an X in the empty box to the right of the name of the person they want to vote for. The elector can only vote for 1 candidate.
2. Put their ballot paper into envelope A and seal it.
3. Complete their postal voting statement with their date of birth and signature. Make sure you fill in your date of birth not today’s date.
4. Put their completed postal voting statement and envelope A (which has the marked ballot paper inside), into envelope B and seal it.
5. Post envelope B. It is free to return a postal vote by post so there is no need for a stamp if you are posting it in the UK.
The elector needs to ensure that they return their ballot paper AND their postal voting statement or their vote will not count.
You need to return your postal vote so that it arrives by the close of the poll. If your postal vote pack arrives too late to be returned by post, it can be handed in to the Returning Officer at your local authority or handed in at any polling station within the constituency.
Hi Ell – You report that: “If an applicant is unable to provide a signature or a consistent signature due to any disability or inability to read or write, they can request that the requirement for a signature on the postal vote application (and postal voting statement) is waived. The applicant must provide with their application the reason for the request and the name and address of any person who has assisted them with completing the application.
The ERO will need to gain proof or evidence in order to be satisfied that the applicant is unable to provide a signature, be satisfied that the request for a signature waiver is genuine and is not being used as an attempt to avoid the postal vote security measures.”
I did not know that there was an alternative available to accommodate those who might no longer be capable of signing their name. I doubt that many people know this is the case. I can imagine frail elderly people with arthritic fingers producing shaky signatures that would not survive the automated scrutiny controlled by Idox. How many votes are discarded due to an illegible signature?
Was this another type of disenfranchisement or could these votes be reassigned during the unsupervised in house process that Idox maintain control of with their Postal Vote Managed Service. Is there a process for contacting the voter when their postal vote has been rejected? This would allow for a correction or a later attempt to vote directly at the polling station.
Will COVID 19 facilitate implementing the dangerous authoritarian policies of this far Right faction of the Tory Party with their “Decimating Down” agenda conveniently enabled by the “COVERT 2019 Rigged Election” fake “landslide victory” result? In a recent Article in the Canary they offer a stark warning: “The Tories just revealed the most terrifying part of their coronavirus plan.” Stating that: “The bill will introduce sweeping measures,” the article published an alarming quote on Twitter from ITV’s political editor, Robert Peston, that summed up the enormity of the proposal:
“There has never in my lifetime been a law that so encroached on our civil liberties and basic rights as the Coronavirus Bill, scheduled to become law by end of month. It is all aimed at keeping us safe. But the transfer of unchallengeable power to the state for two years is… huge. It covers everything from burials, to holding those who threaten national security for longer, to closing borders, to detaining those with mental health issues, to empowering the police to quarantine those with the virus, and much more. This is… wartime stuff.”
Others chimed in on Twitter: QuantumChoices #FBPE @tfoale 18 Mar “They’re handling it extremely badly – according to the world’s experts. Just like they’re handling brexit really badly, according to the economists and trade experts. This is a government that doesn’t like experts, remember. They prefer sycophants.”
In a subsequent Article the Canary reveal that: “The bill will change the following around mental health care and support:
• It will now only take one doctor’s approval to have a person sectioned (detained) under the Mental Health Act. Previously two doctors had to agree to this course of action. This protected people from biased, incorrect, negligent, or unfair decisions.
• Time limits on detaining people in a mental health setting will be removed. Currently, medical professionals can detain people for up to 6 months at first, depending on circumstance. This will now be open-ended, meaning if you’re in psychological distress you can be locked up indefinitely.”Such sweeping powers are incredibly dangerous with malevolent leadership in absolute majority control of Government as we now have. In this same piece the Canary also warn that the bill will permit Hospitals to discharge patients back into the community without regard for their ongoing care and allow Councils to ditch their responsibility towards care of the disabled and vulnerable including children. The affect on our judicial system could turn trials into “Kangaroo Courts” with expedited procedures that will put Human Rights at risk just as Brexit will allow the Tories to eliminate most of the right we now enjoy.
There were ominous warning signs on page 48 of the Tory Manifesto that they planned to attack the basic rights of citizens, both Workers Rights as well as Human Rights, especially members of targeted minority groups like the gypsies. The Coronavirus Bill will accelerate our loss of liberty under “Medical Marshal Law” with the Social Safety net now being stripped away even more swiftly and more radically than we had once feared. Within this Article there is a letter that the Canary have drafted, appealing for people to send a copy to their MPs to prevent such lack of responsibility.
Alarmed by what the Canary describe as: “all these changes are unprecedented” they quote civil liberties group Big Brother Watch on Twitter: “The law will last 2 years. Government must justify this length given the severity of the measures, which will interfere with the everyday lives of people in the UK. A shorter duration with a sunset clause would ensure the powers are strictly temporary & promptly reviewed.
It’s right that Government takes rapid & robust action, but good laws are rarely made in haste & rights are too often the casualty of crisis. The Opposition & civil society have important roles to play in scrutinising emergency powers to protect both public health & human rights.”
The Canary are concerned that measures enacted in haste will be retained for a very long time, warning: “But what Big Brother Watch fails to address is whether the powers in the bill will actually last two years; or whether the Tories will merely keep these existing power in law permanently. Because the way the legislation is being passed, they have the power to do this.”
The Covid 19 health crisis could help this radical hard Right faction of the Tory Government to usher in the full scale dictatorship we fear they had planned all along. This fear is amply justified by the alarming pledges on page 48 of the Tory Manifesto where there were warnings of attacks on the power of the Judiciary and a Tory reinvention of what Human Rights will remain in place after leaving the EU. There has been an extremely rapid and alarming reduction of the BBC presentations that might render any criticism of the Government: control of the press and state broadcasting is a classic warning sign of dictatorship!
Due to the distraction of the Covid 19 crisis, thankfully the forced opposition party grovelling in support of the Covert 2019 Rigged Election result is no longer as repetitive and nauseating as it once, but the public cannot be conned into thinking that there will be a progressive comeback in five years time. Future “Elections” will be purely cosmetic attempts to justify continuation of strict Tory authoritarian rule. Voter ID checks will disenfranchise millions of the most vulnerable potential voters and the introduction of electronic voting machines will greatly simplify vote fraud in future.
We need to strengthen and increase the powers of our Electoral Commission, but that will never be an issue worth addressing for the Tory Government who so richly benefit from slack regulations and nonexistent oversight. “Do not expect the Fox to pitch in with long overdue repairs to the Hen House!” Even if no concrete evidentiary proof of fraud is uncovered in an investigation it will still expose the unacceptable weaknesses in our Electoral System: A watchdog that cannot watch is just a dog! We must commit to Rescue our Watchdog as All Votes Must Count.
Why now during the Covid 19 crisis? This global pandemic is clearly demonstrating the critical importance of strong, trustworthy leadership, something that is sadly lacking in Boris Johnson. The lies, chronic blunders, dangerous mistakes, u-turns and cruel calculations that have characterized his handling of the response to Covid 19 have sunk the UK into an even deeper pit of shame called out by world leaders. As the death toll climbs it could fuel public outcry and a revolt against this rogue Tory Government. The PM’s shallow “Get Brexit Done” mantle can no longer hide his nakedness and incompetent lack of leadership in a real crisis.
Demanding a comprehensive investigation into the Covert 2019 Rigged Election result is vital to exposing the corruption that could now cost thousands of lives in the UK. Removing the Tories from office is a top priority in order restore the sanity of adhering to WHO guidelines, properly supporting our NHS staff and enabling a progressive Government to protect the lives of all our people instead of just finding more ways to squander public money on the elite. Progressive socialist policies will prove key to our survival as a nation, but we cannot continue to beg for them piecemeal from a Tory Government that promoted the fake science of “Herd Immunity” fully prepared to sacrifice the most vulnerable and “Slaughter the Sheeple!”.
Responding in this time of national crisis who can we clearly identified as “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” in UK Politics? Despite receiving more support than any other Labour leader since 1945 it was not enough to take out the Tories in 2017. Were vote rigging shenanigans in play back then? It is hard to know, but certainly it was already well recognized that our Electoral System was wide open to Industrial scale abuse. Despite the angry rants of centrists Labour members wanted Good Jeremy to stay put and over eight Months ago a Petition appealed for a: “Vote of confidence in Jeremy Corbyn.”
The resounding support for Good Jeremy in the Petition led with the statement: “We, Labour Party Members and Supporters, have full confidence in the Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. We recognise he is the target of a relentless smear campaign, orchestrated by the wealthy establishment who do not want a socialist Labour government.” Sadly, although this Petition has continued gaining support and is now fast approaching 70,000, the “relentless smear campaign” continued to ramp up unabated in an effort to destroy Good Jeremy or find a way to remove him for losing the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.
That was then, but what of now? Despite the concerted hammering Good Jeremy suffered from our supposedly neutral BBC and the heavily biased Right wing press strong support for Corbyn persisted beyond the deeply disappointing Covert 2019 Rigged Election. As his detractors assigned blame to Good Jeremy in further humiliating smears to reinforce the Tory lie about “borrowed votes,” Fake News of the crumbling “Red Wall” was repeated in grovelling apologies that were never warranted. But even in this darkest hour many were not ready to abandon their champion and a new Petition appeared: “Campaign to keep Jeremy Corbyn as leader.” To date another 18,788 and counting have signed to express their desire to keep Good Jeremy as leader.
In a recent Article in the Canary: “A storm is brewing over the Labour Leadership race” the state that: “Despite the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic, the Labour Party leadership election is going ahead. But a growing number of people are calling for the party to suspend it. And they’re also saying outgoing leader Jeremy Corbyn should remain in the job.” As leader of the opposition our Good Jeremy has maintained a laser-like focus on the priorities of ordinary people he has: “remained on track repeatedly holding the Government to account for their reckless decisions in mishandling the Covid 19 crisis. More and more the Labour leadership contest is looking like a damaging distraction that is totally inappropriate at this critical time and should be abandoned.”
In the Canary article there is a Link to the most recent Petition: “Covid-19 Outbreak: Suspend the Labour Leadership contest.”
The Petition, which has now gathered over 5000 signatures, states that: “It has become clear that the COVID-19 pandemic is a crisis unlike any this nation has confronted in at least a generation. It is a crisis that demands the full attention of the party’s membership, the labour movement, PLP and party bureaucracy.” It describes how the leadership campaigns have: “ground to a halt” due to the coronavirus saying: “now is not the time for a complete change in leadership and shadow cabinet.” It calls on the party to: “work together to hold the government of Boris Johnson to account. We do not have the luxury of retreating into an inward-looking debate among ourselves. Over the coming months, we must work together, as a party, to fight for our communities.”
The people of this country were quick to identify Dominic Cummins as “the Bad,” a treacherous cancer now ensconced within the very heart of this rabid Tory Government. On Sunday the 22nd of March the Sunday Times exposed the sinister influence and callous attitude of Bad Dom in his top advisory role with the ear of the Ugly Boris Johnson. This explosive article levelled the whole misguided support for the unproven dangerous strategy of “Heard Immunity” on Bad Dom, blaming his malign intervention for promoting this obscure pseudo-science that put the UK at odds with the WHO and most other countries globally.
The sheer arrogance of the Bas Dom leads him to mouth off next to an active mike, blurt out shocking revelations to the press, candidly “spill the beans” in front of multiple witnesses and boast of his ingenious manipulative prowess in deranged ramblings on his Blog. His warped belief in eugenics is well documented if deeply disturbing, but he is a known quantity of bad that permeates this rogue far Right faction of the Tory Party committing the PM and the cabinet to his evil agenda.
However, we should remember that the Bad Dom is on very shaky ground as public resentment grows over the failed policy of “Herd Immunity” and his callous statement that the Government should: “Protect the economy and if that means some pensioners die, too bad.” The Bad Dom could also face prosecution for his admitted use of illegally obtained data in the Brexit Referendum and the Covert 2019 Rigged Election as this puts him on the wrong side of UK Data Protection laws. This potential bombshell is well described in one of the Daily GasLamp Blog posts on Cambridge Analytica where they say: “Illegal to the price of $5billion just to facebook alone for allowing a loophole in its software. How much more illegal is it for people to deliberately exploit that loophole?”
Boris Johnson “the Ugly” emerged at today’s PMQ’s as if at the top of a precipitous elitist Davos ski slope ready to begin his familiar devious slalom weaving through all the important and valid questions, deftly evading the treacherous mogul bumps of harsh reality with his non-answers in a rapid decent all the way to the dirty slush at the very bottom of the black run. His repeated exasperating message was “sure, we’re doing that,” or more accurately, we might get around to it in our own sweet time! All top familiar the emphatic: “we will do whatever we can, whatever it takes….” but only if and when we are absolutely forced to do so!
The untrustworthy Pinocchio Ugly Boris responded to urgent appeals from across the house over the total lack of financial support for the most vulnerable by liberally spaffing money, all over the chamber on empty promises he had no intention of keeping. He was: “putting a billion pounds into arf, arf… £1000… Universal Credit arf, arf…. 500 Million to local Councils arf, arf…” the answer to everything was another lie about money that will probably never materialize. Don’t look for it to appear any time soon in accounting because the only budget promises Ugly Boris will honour are to the wealthy benefactors who sponsored his Covert 2019 Rigged Election campaign; their generous slush fund could actually transpire.
Ugly Boris’s new “Obey me” mantra has become: “Stay at home, Protect the NHS and Save lives.” It is all up to us of course. As usual the vague Tory promises are easy to go back on. This, while asking the public to take responsibility for accomplishing all the civic duties they will never be given the resources to achieve. Ugly Boris has set us up for a catastrophic failure that his Government fully anticipate will claim the lives of thousands; a disaster they have cleverly engineered to blame on public non-compliance as our future dictator establishes his God like authority. Ugly Boris and Bad Dom wilfully precipitated this chaos as the incompetent Tory. Government has totally abandoned you with no recourse to funds; many will die in their “Slaughter of the Sheeple!”
We helplessly suffer the increasingly ugly spectre of Boris Johnson, flanked by compliant ministers and discredited “scientific experts,” while acting on the advice of the Bad Dom to tout the latest populist “Nudge” tactics. With the pomp of Tory Party political broadcasts and the barest minimum of scrutiny, Ugly Boris has scheduled daily Press Briefings to deliver the latest smorgasbord of confusing and conflicting new restrictions and unrealistic demands. There must be constant hand washing despite limited access to sinks; use hand sanitizer despite the fact that this antimicrobial Gel is no longer available in shops; strict social distancing despite being imprisoned in cramped accommodation of forced to rely on packed trains, and self-isolation despite the critical lack of food delivery slots. Many will die in the “Slaughter of the Sheeple!”
While lying about desperately needed Testing and backlogged PPE logistics putting NHS frontline staff at risk, Ugly Boris had the gall to taunt the NHS “Cannon Fodder” with his outrageous promise of 40 new hospitals! I am in no doubt that when the giant US healthcare Corporation get their greedy hands on our privatised NHS they will invest in swanky new facilities to cater to the needs of wealthy clients after usurping the prestigious brand name of our crumbling health service. Sadly, the blatant lies of our “part time Prime Minister” will continue to infect our screens and our minds until the disastrous duo of the Bad Dom and Ugly Boris are finally ousted.
Ugly Boris will be glad to see the back of PMQs for a while, but he should not count on a swift end to the rigorous scrutiny of Good Jeremy any time soon. Warned that he was “not going anywhere” should be the catalyst for Labour members to demand that he stays in post; Good Jeremy is the strong leader the British so desperately need to guide us through this time of crisis. If there was a complete exposure of the fraud committed to steal the Covert 2019 Rigged Election the last thing we want is for the Labour Party, already critically weakened by lies and deception, to be deprived of its strong, trustworthy leadership.
We need to support the Petition to end the race to find a new leader and “Rescue our Watchdog” so that we can neutralize the serious damage done by Bad Dom and Ugly Boris – In “The Good the Bad and the Ugly” we can only hope the Good Jeremy, always on the right side of history, will eventually prevail.
The Daily GasLamp has posted a couple of pieces on Covid 19 and how the Pandemic could shape future UK political decision making. Any deviation in focus leads to the question: what takes priority right now Covid 19 or the Covert 2019 Rigged Election? In the first Post: “Covid 19 and Future Policy” they are quick to point out the ineptitude of our “part time Prime Minister” in dealing with Covid 19 and previous crisis’s that have emerged thick and fast since he claimed his “borrowed votes” in the Covert 2019 Rigged Election.
The biggest blunder, following directly after Boris Johnson’s stark admission that “your loved ones will die,” was letting the already doom filled imagination of the general public contemplate the horrific impact of “Herd Immunity.” Described by the author as: “Loose talk or policy, whatever, the term “Herd Immunity” has horrified scientists world wide when its been applied to COVID-19: such a policy could condemn as many as 1 million to death in the UK with no guarantee that any future immunity protection would occur.” Condemned by the WHO over the Government’s inaction, Johnson has drawn sharp criticism or his Trumpian approach.
In a list of priorities there are the usual points raised about the poor handling of testing including testing at Airports and other points of entry; one not mentioned that still has me in shock: testing our Medical staff and Carers. As a former Medical professional myself I cannot imagine dealing with the anxiety of working around infectious patients without proper protection, but apparently many of our NHS staff are being put at risk in this way. Issues that increase risk for NHS staff include the sheer volume of their exposure during practice and the negative impact on immunity caused by exhaustion and high levels of stress.
Medical staff have already become infected and some are now sick enough to require ventilation equipment. The British public are fiercely protective of NHS staff so if a Doctor or Nurse dies it could precipitate a tidal wave of angry public reaction towards the Government for their complacency. Whenever basic needs are raised there is the same “the check’s in the mail” type of reaction from Johnson and his team and one has to wonder if the constant delays don’t represent a determination to silently stick to the disastrous do nothing “Herd Immunity” strategy like “nothing has changed” as the Maybot was so proud of announcing.
“But already we have run into problems: testing at home? testing at airports? proper sick pay? release prisoners? All these policies need a complete change in government direction!” claims the author… good luck with that one. However, I keep returning to that chicken and the egg conundrum of what comes first, Covid 19 or the Covert 2019 Rigged Election that exacerbated this crisis with abysmally incompetent, untrustworthy leadership? While some may want to put the latter on hold until the former is under control I would argue that it could prove impossible to get Covid 19 under control until proper leadership is in place.
The list of the “could have been” policies just drums home the injustice of what was stolen from us in the Covert 2019 Rigged Election. “What we don’t need is “socialism-for-the-already-rich”…” but certainly we do need “A form of QE for the rest of us” Amen to that! Where I disagree with the writer is in his assumption that: “There is no point, wishing for a Corbyn-led government. That boat has sailed.” Corbyn has made really powerful interventions in the last few weeks and a growing number of Labour supporters believe he needs to stay in place to provide strong leadership, stability and consistency during this challenging national crisis. Corbyn is universally trusted to put ordinary people first, but any move to put aside the leadership contest will of course need to come from the contenders.
Although they will not admit it publically every delay and half baked decision Boris has announced has reinforced my belief that the Tories are still committed to a version of Dominic Cummings’s warped eugenics program for “Herd Immunity” to cull the elderly and most vulnerable in a “Slaughter of the Sheeple!” The “black is white” PR spin enabled by the BBC and tabloid press does little to convince me otherwise. There will be a very big spike in deaths that Boris Johnson will as usual try to blame on stupid people not following his orders, despite the fact that many of his dictates are entirely unworkable.
There is no financial help for those who have been told not to go to work, statutory sick pay is only just over £94 a week, one of the lowest levels in the EU, and Universal Credit is being overwhelmed with applications. Some will die of starvation because even the food banks are having trouble meeting the increased demand. There is no program in place to make sure that the elderly, those at risk or in self-isolation can get food. There are weeks of waiting for a delivery slot even for pensioners who are Internet savvy. In Spain they have found elderly people abandoned to die in care homes; nothing we are doing will prevent this from being repeated here in the UK where provision of Social Care is already thinly stretched.
A very serious flash point that will incite public outrage will occur if any NHS workers become infected and die. Doctors and Nurses have already succumbed to Covid 19 in Italy and the things that put them at greater risk will be at least as relevant here. The delay in testing our frontline medical staff and care workers and the poor supply of inadequate PPE put them at increased risk as does travelling to work on overcrowded trains. Other countries have done a far better job of testing and protecting these key personnel, and have still had Medical staff die; we should brace for a worse outcome here.
If the deliberate choice to abandon the well proven requirements of the WHO causes a far higher death toll in the UK there will be an urgent call for the Tories to go. There is no accountability or honour in the Tory camp and they will try desperately to cling on to their stolen power. The public must be ready to seize the agenda and drive the press by refusing to allow the BBC and the Tabloids to shield Boris Johnson and his warped side-kick from taking full responsibility for obvious blunders that will cost countless lives. Rebellion, civil unrest and disobedience would not be taking advantage of tragedy, but instead doing the right thing to save lives as it’s important to remember that if such social upheaval occurs the obvious remedy is to remove corrupt leadership.
While I would never suggest or encourage anyone to resort to anything beyond peaceful protest, inevitably desperate people may reach breaking point where severe deprivation causes the oppressed to demand change and outweighs the fear of confronting police or facing military suppression. This has proved true in rebellions overseas that have toppled governments even when they turned the might of the military against their own people. We could potentially see riots in London within a few weeks if Boris Johnson continues with his dithering and denial while significantly more people needlessly die.
We know that the Tories had already factored in serious depravation and lethal consequences following crash-out Brexit; this was revealed when we learned that operation “Yellowhammer” included stockpiling body bags! Why would the Government need a large stock-pile of body bags? It was obvious even before Covid 19 accelerated their deprivation initiative that the Tories were planning on the chaos of Brexit causing many to fall through the cracks and die. I was concerned enough to anticipate the panic buying and non-survival of the most vulnerable, but for the Government this might have been a well planned strategy all along.
I do not believe that there is a right time to crank up the campaign after it has been put on hold for a few weeks or months due to Covid 19; every day the Tories are allowed to remain in power will cost more lives. Our goal to thoroughly investigate the validity of the 2019 Election result, and hence the legitimacy of the Tory Party to make catastrophic decisions on our behalf, could not be more urgent as they seek “emergency powers” under cover of the Covid 19 crisis. They have demanded that their Brexit crash-out must not be delayed as this facilitates manipulating and altering our laws by stealth; this could destroy democracy in the UK.
Deal with Covid 19 or focus on the Covert 2019 Rigged Election should not be an either/or choice as it will require us to build a very strong base of universal support for the earliest opportunity to remove this dangerous Tory Government from office.
Kim
I fully agree with what you say and what is on the DailyGaslamp and it is very sickening to see such an incompetent government mishandling of the crisis. I agree the policy of Herd Immunity has not been abandoned just silently rolled out. See what I wrote this morning about this on here.
The Government has now unprecedented power especially as Parliament has now been dismissed and I am afraid the Labour party is totally at sea with its prolonged leadership elections. There is no united voice against this government which has now given itself sweeping power. In effect we now have a supreme leader, not a democratic Prime Minister.
It is as if not only the political class has been neutralised but the scientific and medical advisors to the government have become so politicised and do not offer sound advise but are told what to say by Dominic Cummings. When the dust has settled I think those people will have an unbearable burden of guilt to shoulder, because they have been used.
The insanity of the government’s approach can just not be emphasised enough. They had the models of China, suppressing the infection by first major expansion of treatment of serious cases, then isolation of milder cases by proper quarantine and total curfew of affected cities. This has worked for now. In South Korea they suppressed the infection by early testing contact tracing and quarantine. We had two models and two months to act, all wasted.
We now have a situation where we have a rogue regime contributing to the death of its own people, maybe we should escalate this to the UN as a human rights issue?Kim & SA
totally agree with all that you say especially
“Deal with Covid 19 or focus on the Covert 2019 Rigged Election should not be an either/or choice”
However the reality, at least for now is that NO-ONE is LISTENING or willing to act!
Lord save us all now we are living in a dictatorship
