Hannan's plans to destroy the welfare state

The ultra Eurosceptic Conservative MEP Dan Hannan has, with Douglas Carswell, just published The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain, which was summised in an article in the Sunday Times.

So what would Hannan’s plans really mean?
He promises:

"An end to the government monopolies in education and healthcare." This would leave us all paying for healthcare and education, which is too bad if you’re poor I suppose!

"Self-financing local authorities." So there would be no central government grant for local autorities, which will have to raise ALL their money through Council tax or other local taxes. This would be less of a problem in Surrey (high incomes, lower costs) than in Sunderland (lower incomes, higher costs). Council tax would therefore have to be higher in poorer areas.

"The devolution of social security to counties and cities." This will cause exactly the same problems as leaving local authorities to finance themselves. Cities face higher costs with a lower tax base. So much for solidarity or any kind of national cohesion.

"More referendums." More and important issues to be decided, on low turnouts, with superficial soundbites rather than detailed scrutiny by our elected representatives.

"Power back from Brussels in order to disperse it at home. You can't democratise Britain while 84% of our laws come from a super quango, the European Commission." Just nonsense. Only 10% (House of Commons library figures) of legislation originates from the EU, where it is anyway not decided on by the European Commission but by ministers (including British ministers) in the Council and directly elected MEPs in the Parliament. These are on subjects where we have decided it is advantageous to have a common approach, such as common rules for the common market instead of a myriad of separate national rules generating red tape.

There is little surprising in the article, Hannan is obsessed with dismantling the welfare state, but it is an insight into just how far removed from reality some of Dave’s cuddly Conservatives really are.