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The success of the South Molton Declaration at the 2001 electionSignatories came from across the party spectrum including Liberal Democrats whose party believes officially in the opposite of national self-government! A number of candidates of different parties reconsidered the Declaration after the election and several sitting MPs then registered their support. In all some 100 MPs or Candidates either signed or indicated their full support without signing. We commissioned a MORI Poll which had the following devastating results: 42% of all voters would switch their vote to another candidate who had signed or would not vote at all if their own party's candidate refused to sign the Declaration. An extraordinary 55% of Conservatives would not vote for their preferred candidate or would not vote at all if their candidate did not sign. 34% of Labour voters would either vote for a different candidate who had signed or not vote at all and 41% of Liberal Democrat voters would either vote for a different candidate or not vote if their own candidate did not sign. No fewer than 72% of younger Conservative voters (age 18-24) would either vote for a different candidate who had signed (40%) or would not vote (32%) if their preferred candidate did not sign. The small turnout of 59% of the electorate (a 14% drop on the 1997 Election) shows how people refuse to vote for those who refuse to govern. This was a vindication of our Constitutional Democratic Campaign then - and the BDI today. But most important of all we set out the strategy by which our democratic nationhood and the sovereignty of the British people will be asserted. We have provided the means by which voters and candidates could remain with their traditional politics and yet re-assert the sovereignty of the people and reclaim their parliamentary authority. THAT STRATEGY LIVES ON - WITH EVEN GREATER POWER - IN THE NEW |
