Category Archives: Politics

Government, Health, Politics, Society

Theresa May pledges an overhaul of the Mental Health Act

BRITAIN

MHA 1983

The prime minister, Theresa May, has announced that the Mental Health Act 1983 will be overhauled if the Conservative Party win the General Election on 8 June.

Prime Minister Theresa May has promised the biggest shake-up of mental health provision for 30 years if re-elected to tackle the “burning injustice” of current treatment.

In a major policy announcement before the General Election next month, the Conservative leader has pledged to scrap the “flawed” 1983 Mental Health Act after concluding it is “unfit for purpose”.

A string of policies designed to end discrimination in mental health treatment and make provision suitable for the 21st century will be implemented instead.

Ten thousand more NHS staff will be assigned to mental health work in the next three years to boost treatment under the Tory plans.

A teacher in every primary and secondary school will be trained in mental health first aid to identify signs that children are developing anxiety or depression.

Discrimination laws will be toughened up to protect employees with mental health issues while Samaritans charity helpline will be Government funded until 2022.

The pledges will form part of the Conservative manifesto and come after the Prime Minister named improving mental health as a key priority when she took office.

Mrs May said: “On my first day in Downing Street last July, I described shortfalls in mental health services as one of the burning injustices in our country.

“It is abundantly clear to me that the discriminatory use of a law passed more than three decades ago is a key part of the reason for this.

“So today I am pledging to rip up the 1983 Act and introduce in its place a new law which finally confronts the discrimination and unnecessary detention that takes place too often.”

The Act was written at a time when mental health issues did not have the same level of understanding or prominence in public debate as today.

The legislation has been criticised by campaigners after the number of detentions under the Act increased by 43 per cent in the last decade.

There are also concerns the law is fuelling discrimination. In 2014-15, close to 60 per cent of black people in hospital with mental illness were detained – compared to around 40 per cent for white people.

In a recent report the Care Quality Commission, the independent regulator of healthcare services, strongly criticised the legislation.

It said the Act “may disempower patients, prevent people from exercising legal rights, and ultimately impede recovery or even amount to unlawful and unethical practice”.

Part of the problem, according to Tory sources, is that mental health case law built up over the years is all based on the old legislation.

Therefore, Mrs May will repeal the Act and bring forward a Mental Health Treatment Bill in its place.

Schools and hospitals will also see changes under the Tory plans. Ten thousand extra workers will be put on mental health provision in the NHS.

It remains unclear whether all the places will be new hires or current workers already employed by the NHS.

Sources insist no new funding is needed for the scheme because money has been carved out of the current Health Department budget.

However, campaigners are likely to criticise the failure to promise billions of extra spending on mental health that they have demanded.

The Tories’ wider plan for NHS spending will be published in the manifesto later this month.

The additional mental health training is to be provided by a charity within the Third Sector and will cost the Government £2 million.

The courses, described as “comprehensive” by Tory sources, will equip teachers to spot developing mental health issues in children and tackle psychotic episodes.

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Britain, Economic, Government, Politics, Society

Tax policy and the hidden truths

BRITAIN

Tax Return

For various reasons it has suited both the Labour and Conservative parties not to have tax policy turned into a central issue in the election campaign.

Under a Labour government led by Jeremy Corbyn a significant rise in public spending would be envisaged. The party leadership, too, has made no secret of its intention to raise taxes on the better-off – on those, as the saying goes, ‘who have the broader shoulders’. But, the definition of broad shoulder has, for some time now, been left conveniently undefined, while the resort to higher borrowing, the mantra of any socialist party, is unlikely to assuage voters after the calamitous borrowing and debt of recent years that has necessitated such a lengthy period of austerity and spending constraint.

The Conservative Party have also been markedly reluctant to be drawn into the discussion on tax, having long symbolised itself as the party of low tax. While it may claim to have lower spending commitments than Labour this does not necessarily mean that taxes will not rise. Chancellor Philip Hammond, for one, has made known his desire for greater financial flexibility and for the party to drop the ‘tax lock’ pledge. Ultimately, this begs the question of what Conservative tax policy is now.

Policies of taxation are especially sensitive at this point in time given the background of a slowing economy and forecasts of a deepening downturn. There have been signs over the last few days that the election battle – largely focused till now on the personalities of the respective leaders – is swinging back towards more practical and tangible issues.

Both parties have pledged not to increase the 20 per cent rate of VAT until 2022. As matters stand, though, the total tax burden is set to rise to its highest level in 30 years – even were the tax lock to stay in place. The March Budget stipulated that the tax burden will rise to 37.2 per cent of national income by 2019-20. And with overall government debt approaching 90 per cent of national income, voters deserve more informative answers on future tax policy than the rhetoric currently on offer.

The likelihood is that continuing low growth for the foreseeable future and a worryingly high level of government debt will act as a powerful restraint for whoever wins the election: any increase in government spending will have to be found from improved productivity and efficiency gains. That is not a particularly comfortable message to portray for any party aspiring to be the next government. It is, however, an unavoidable truth whatever the political rhetoric may claim.

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Britain, European Union, Government, Politics, Society

Britain will be entitled to walk away without a deal with the EU

BREXIT

brexit

When the 27 EU leaders met to review their Brexit talks guidelines last Friday, it took them less than a minute to approve the draft. They then burst into open applause – the grandstanding almost akin to a Soviet-era meeting of Warsaw Pact comrades. The guidelines are provocative and blatantly breach the UK’s own red lines. Britain, in turn, must spell out that it is prepared to walk away if it is unsatisfied with the deal that the talks produce.

The EU’s mask of collegiality and high ideals is slipping. As it does, so the decision of the British voters to walk away last year looks even wiser. Britons should be aware that walking away is a valid and legal option that the UK is entitled to exercise if talks with the EU irretrievably break down.

Extracts from Yanis Varoufakis’s memoir of the 2015 Greek crisis depict an EU where the Germans dominate and the Union, they insist, must be preserved at all costs. He claims that Emmanuel Macron, probably France’s next president, described the EU’s deal for Greece as a latter-day “Versailles Treaty”. Angela Merkel apparently overheard and barred Mr Macron from talks.

But Greece is not Britain: a great deal more for the Union is at stake this time around given the UK’s historic position of generating handsome contributions to EU coffers in Brussels.

Theresa May attracted shrill criticism for pointing out that continental security might be affected by the course of negotiations, yet the EU has shamelessly put absolutely everything on the table: the cost of the so-called divorce, from which they are determined to wring every penny, Gibraltar, UK bases in Cyprus and, in a concession to the French, an effort to stop any financial deregulatory drive by Britain.

The UK cannot accept a settlement that would, say, tie its hands on tax and regulation after it leaves the EU: the country voted to get out in part to liberate its economy. And there are matters on the table that have nothing to do with the EU – such as the future of Ireland. Britain therefore has to make it absolutely clear that it will not be drawn into diplomatic traps or be landed with bills and commitments that reduce its status and undermine the raison d’être behind Brexit.

The EU needs to be reminded that it relies so much on the UK’s markets, intelligence and military that it would be foolish to act so bullishly over the terms of settlement. It is in everyone’s interests to separate amicably and agree as soon as possible on a new trade arrangement. That is what Britain should aim for. If the Europeans will not play ball, however, they must be in no doubt that Britain has the strength and will to go it alone.

Brexit | Some of The European Union’s draft negotiation principles

 . The EU wishes to have the United Kingdom as a close partner in the future

. Preserving the integrity of the Single Market means that the UK will not be able to participate on a sector by sector basis

. The EU “four freedoms” are indivisible and there can be no cherry-picking

. A non-member of the Union cannot have the same rights and benefits as a member

. The EU will negotiate as a bloc, rather than 27 individual countries, so as not to undercut the position of the Union

. Brexit negotiations will take place as a single package. They will only be considered settled when all individual items are agreed

. The United Kingdom and European Union must agree on their future relationship, but these discussions can only take place when there is sufficient clarity on the process of the UK’s withdrawal from the Union

. The Union is open to a transitional membership agreement, but this must be very clearly defined, time-limited and dependent on the UK maintaining EU membership obligations

. Negotiations must be completed by 29 March 2019

. No part of these negotiations can affect Gibraltar without an agreement between the United Kingdom and Spain

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