However as you might expect, before committing over six million pounds to this project, on a one way ticket, we
thought long and hard about these factors and how to mitigate them.

Our guiding principle is that all policies and major decisions should be made in Parliament by the best people that can be found.

As you know, politics is in a state of flux throughout the Western world with extreme parties and extreme politicians emerging. From Golden Dawn in Greece, Alternative für Deutschland in Germany and Donald Trump in America
the writing is on the wall for the establishment.

Electorates are now looking for an alternative to parties that have long marginalised them and treated them with contempt.

However, the future lies not with new parties;
tribal politics has been tested to destruction. The future will be politicians hand-picked for their ability and accountable only to their constituents.

These people will become accomplished politicians who will
work collegiately with their colleagues towards the best possible decisions.

The end result will be policies arrived at by consensus in a powerful yet democratic parliament, rather than being used as electoral bait on the doorstep.

As you point out, independents are often regarded as political misfits or as being obsessed by single issues. However, all the candidates we endorse will have at least three things in common. They will all have signed up to
the Bell Principles, which set out clear standards of conduct; they will support parliamentary reform to stop politicians accepting promotion in return for unquestioning support; and they will have agreed to recall by their constituents if they fail to perform.

Future reforms may include the replacement of general elections, which have become time-wasting, immoral
and unaffordable festivals of bribery, with a permanent parliament. Rather than holding a general election every five years to change from one self-serving party to the next, it would make more sense to hold MPs accountable by recall instead.

The parliamentary term would become a
settled and productive continuum marked only by the periodic check and refreshment of its Members.

By habitually bribing voters to gain power, political parties have caused Western countries to live far beyond their means. Not only do political parties routinely bribe the electorate with their own money, they are now
bribing us with our children’s money as well.

We are imposing a truly immoral burden on future generations and every baby born in the UK today is already £24,000 in debt. Given the parlous state of our economy, by the time
they are sixteen this debt could have more than doubled.

Those who find work will face punitive levels of taxation; those who cannot will suffer an ever-decreasing level of support and opportunity. It has been known for
parents to cut up an offspring’s credit card, one day our children may well wish that they could have cut up ours. The prospect of a happy ending is fading fast as paper currencies, government bonds and quantitative easing
lose their charm in lockstep with stocks and commodities which are now also crumpling under the pressure.

With a clean sheet of paper, no sane person would replicate our present political system. Less than one percent of the electorate is now a member of a political party and seventy-six percent of that same electorate have not voted for the present government.

However, the system will not cure itself; the electorate will have to force reform by voting only for people
with a record of achievement rather than skilful orators. Staffed by MPs chosen for their ability rather than their political affiliation, parliament will have the views, needs and aspirations of the electorate woven into its
fabric rather than being cynically exploited for votes.

The political parties are now trapped by the very system they created and are condemned to keep on promising the earth to cling on to power. It is now up to the electorate to break this destructive cycle by voting only for people we
trust and respect.

You mention that most people are not political obsessives and may find it difficult to stay the distance. We would say that many have become fatalistic about their inability to control their own circumstances, institutionalised, confused by bureaucracy and demotivated by a system that only gives them a restricted choice of options to vote for once every five years.

You also correctly refer to the independents lack of resources in comparison to the big parties. Whilst this is true, crowdfunding will change that dynamic, not only in financial terms but by giving people a stake in their chosen candidate.

It has to be said that the ‘resources’ of the big parties have often been provided in exchange for influence and favours.

You mention that we have a position on the EU, we have and it is on our website;

“Brexit and Remain are both right in what they say. Brexit is correct about the inability to control our borders, red tape and the restriction on global trading by the EU.

Conversely, Remain is right to point out that there would
be damage to trade and that our ability to stand up to major players such as Russia and China would be weakened.

This tells us that the referendum will solve nothing.

However, no middle way is on offer and we are stuck with a
blunt Yes or No choice, neither of which will be in our best interests. The EU has made many mistakes but it has also got some things right and must be reformed rather than blown asunder.

However, it will take a concentrated
effort by all its member states to bring about the changes that will be required.”

The Free Parliament campaign is a philanthropic effort to replace a political system that is well past its sell-by date with one that is designed to work for us rather than against us.

We are now getting serious approaches from all round the UK not just from the West Country. I hope that this goes some way to assuage your concerns and there is also an
extensive FAQ section that you may find of interest.