{"id":13472,"date":"2012-01-06T08:45:25","date_gmt":"2012-01-06T08:45:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/?p=13472"},"modified":"2012-01-06T08:45:25","modified_gmt":"2012-01-06T08:45:25","slug":"the-threat-to-democracy-is-very-real-and-present-right-here-in-the-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2012\/01\/06\/the-threat-to-democracy-is-very-real-and-present-right-here-in-the-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"The threat to democracy is very real and present right here in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I was pleased to see this from <a href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/0\/306d5342-36db-11e1-b741-00144feabdc0.html#ixzz1ifKRpfpS\" target=\"_blank\">Philip Stephens in the FT this morning<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Hungary\u2019s prime minister presents a reminder \u2014 should anyone on this continent need one \u2014 of the familiar trajectory from economic chaos to political authoritarianism. The European Union has had two grand projects since the fall of the Berlin Wall: the single currency and the advance of democracy eastwards. The euro is now in serious trouble. Mr Orban sends a powerful message about\u00a0the perils facing democracy.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>This week saw the\u00a0<a title=\"FT - Hungary dismisses concerns over new constitution\" href=\"http:\/\/www.ft.com\/cms\/s\/0\/ee7d9e6a-3630-11e1-a3fa-00144feabdc0.html#axzz1iXxHZrVO\">introduction of Mr Orban\u2019s new constitution<\/a>. Suffused with ethnic nationalism, it reeks of an ambition for one-party rule. It promises repression of personal freedoms within Hungary and, through an extension of citizenship to Hungarian minorities elsewhere, threatens instability in ethnically-diverse neighbours.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The constitution has to be seen alongside a slew of new basic laws and the gerrymandering of the electoral system. Together, they bestow inordinate power on the ruling Fidesz party. The prime minister can claim to have won the 2010 election fairly. Now he is deploying a two-thirds majority in parliament to deny opponents the same possibility.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div>At least the realisation of what is going on is growing.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>But we need to be aware that the\u00a0threat\u00a0is not just in Hungary.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Parliament cannot be dissolved without a two thirds majority here now.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The number of MPs have been cut to concentrate power.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>And the Tories are blatantly seeking to gerrymander the electoral system in their favour.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Whilst the City of London runs a state within a state in the UK, aided and abetted by the abuse of the\u00a0Crown Dependencies and their supposed quasi\u00a0independence\u00a0that is simply a\u00a0mechanism\u00a0for finance to undermine the rule of law and democracy in the UK.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The threat to democracy is very real - and present right here in the UK.<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was pleased to see this from Philip Stephens in the FT this morning: Hungary\u2019s prime minister presents a reminder \u2014 should anyone on this<br \/><a class=\"moretag\" href=\"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/2012\/01\/06\/the-threat-to-democracy-is-very-real-and-present-right-here-in-the-uk\/\"><em> Read the full article&#8230;<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,106],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ethics","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13472\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.taxresearch.org.uk\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}