Antony Devoy

Hi, my name is Tony Devoy and I’m standing as a candidate for Libertas in the Yorkshire and Humber region for the European election on June 4th.

The reason I am standing as a candidate and fighting for Libertas in this election is because I believe that democracy, accountability and transparency are the three basic requirements for our 21st century society and the operation of effective governance by the people for the people. I also believe that the UK should remain a partner nation within the wider community of European nations and play a major part in the overall reform of the European Parliament and its institutions.

I was born and raised in the ex-mining village of Grimethorpe, South Yorkshire and have been involved in neighbourhood renewal and regeneration through community development work over the past decade. I fervently believe that the best initiatives to improve the lives of ordinary people come from ‘grassroots’ community organisations and the people themselves, and that what works locally can also work on a much greater scale in our increasingly global world. Just as we can make our local communities work for us; so too can we apply the same methods to make Europe work for us.

I began my working life in the old traditional industries; deep-sea trawling, mining, construction and various factory jobs in manufacturing until at the age of 29 I obtained a place at Ruskin College, Oxford and began my quest to gain educational opportunities and qualifications. Many of the ‘old’ jobs, occupations and employment opportunities have either been slimmed down drastically or gone forever. It is therefore essential that we manage the ‘shock of the new’ and make certain that hard-working people are protected from the uncertainties being thrust upon them and are given the chance to succeed in whatever they choose to do.

As a community/political activist my main aim has been to help bring about positive and beneficial changes and make a difference to people’s everyday lives, at work, education and training, in the home and in their leisure time.

Politics, power and control, who holds it and what they do with it; from grassroots local communities to the town hall, from the nation state to the European Union has always occupied my political thinking which is why I was first attracted to Libertas as its priorities are my priorities.

Openness and accountability: Secret meetings, bribes, dodgy practices and backhand deals have no place in our democratic organisations and institutions. Therefore we must have workable and effective procedures to prevent fraud and corruption in all its guises. This needs to be followed up by stringent auditing and accounting procedures applied to all spending to put an end to fraudulent and corrupt practices by members of the European parliament and bureaucratic elites.
The European Union wastes billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money every year on pointless projects and spurious schemes, some of them verging on the criminal. Libertas says that it can and must be stopped and that this blatant waste of our tax money has to end now with all EU spending subjected to thorough scrutiny, total accountability and transparency.

The EU is stuffed full to bursting with faceless bureaucrats who dream up, pass and enforce unwanted and sometimes unworkable laws, dictats and restrictions. Libertas are determined to end this situation whereby the unelected and unaccountable rule, and make the EU a slimmed down, democratic and fully accountable organisation that listens to and responds to the citizens of Europe. Working with the people for the people.

Eight out of every ten of our laws already come from unelected, unaccountable EU bureaucrats. Libertas aims to put an end to the power flooding out of Brussels, returning the majority of power and control back to Britain.

Vote Libertas on June 4th for a reformed European Union. An EU that puts people before power; a peaceful, prosperous, fairer and more just Europe which works for the benefit of all its 500 million citizens, not just the political and bureaucratic elites.

Thank you,

Tony Devoy