This evening the right-wing think tank the Institute of Economic Affairs is hosting an event with UKIP leader Nigel Farage discussing how free market liberal, or “libertarian” Farage’s party is. Looking at UKIP’s manifesto shows that the party has a mixed record as far as being laissez-faire goes.
Liberal
- The party wants to “sign new UK trade deals across the world”, which is consistent with the idea of free trade
- Would introduce a voucher system for schools, elderly care and nurseries, which would encourage a free market in such services
- Seeks to abolish national insurance and inheritance tax, which would inevitably reduce the size of the state
- Proposes a flat rate of income tax at 31% over £11,500, which would significantly reduce the role of the state in redistribution
Not so liberal
- The party seeks to ban Muslim women from wearing the veil, which conflicts with the idea of social tolerance
- Pledges to “promote one culture for all”, which is incompatible with a laissez-faire attitude to culture
- Wants to “keep British companies under British control”, which would inevitably conflict with maintaining free enterprise
- Wants to put harsher restrictions on immigration, which conflicts with the principle of freedom of movement
Comments
PeeJay / December 16 2010 2:12pm
Just three addenda, if I may;
The party seeks to ban Muslim women from wearing the burkha (not the veil), just like it wants to ban Muslim men from wearing the burkha, or Jewish men, or Black women, or gay adolescents, or members of parliament. As for banning people from wearing the burkha, well, they also want to ban people from wearing motorcycle helmets or ski masks. For you to say that they want to ban certain people of a certain ethnicities and a certain gender from wearing a certain item of clothing is very selective, it would be more accurate to say they don't want people to cover their faces in public buildings, regardless of ethnicity, gender and religion, indeed - it's what it says in their manifesto; " [UKIP will] Ban face covering, in public
buildings".
Promoting monoculturalism is tantamount to promoting multiculturalism - two sides of the same coin.
The last point is a common fallacy, the idea that restricting freedom of movement is illiberal. Nobody is more Libertarian than Milton Friedman, so allow me to quote him, "You can't have an open door policy with social security". To summarise; if you accept that the state should look after the unemployed, you must also limit the number of unemployed people, when jobs are in short supply (as seems to be the case), that means limiting immigration, there's nothing illiberal about that. Once you accept that you can't have an open door policy you must then decide how many should come in, if those who come in increase the number of unemployed people in proportion to the jobs available, it is clear that it would be in the interest of the nation for them not to have come in. For what it's worth, I believe this policy to be politically (rather than ideologically) motivated, aimed at disaffected Tories.
rks / May 13 2011 11:27pm
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