"A Very British Transition" - A Post-Junta Britain TL

Are there any new towns in addition to the aforementioned ghost towns ITTL?

Has there been any notable ethnic clashes or riots ITTL so far?
 
Ugh. A Liberal SNP (more Liberal than OTL anyway). No thank you. Although it's probably a good thing for Scottish democracy to have two pro-Indy parties. I imagine RISE support will...ahem...rise, in the event of the financial crash. Socialist alternative too.

How was Stop the War treated in the twilight years of the Junta? And the CND through the 1970s and 80s?
 
I can't believe you found a way to knock down Nationwide! But is it a bank or a building society?
Judging from the terminology used in that update, I'm assuming building societies do not exist as such, but are folded into the Savings Banks or (then new for the '60s, probably expanded ITTL as an alternative) credit unions. What that leaves Nationwide, je ne sais pas.
 
What happened to Alex Salmond?
Salmond kept his day job as an Economist, apart from the occasional civil rights march he kept his head down during the Junta years, he never became involved with the SNLA like many Scottish Nationalists. With the fall of the Junta he joined RISE as an activist and was elected to it's Executive Council.

He is generally associated with the social democratic/democratic socialist wing of RISE and voted in favour of Sheridan's expulsion.
 
I can't believe you found a way to knock down Nationwide! But is it a bank or a building society?
Nationwide is a Savings Bank, the largest in the UK. Most building societies were folded into savings banks by the Junta as they had a dangerous level of independence.
 
Are there any new towns in addition to the aforementioned ghost towns ITTL?

Has there been any notable ethnic clashes or riots ITTL so far?
There were two phases of town building:
  • The first phase was in the late 80s, where the Junta hoped to combat depopulation in Scotland by constructing new towns north of the border and encouraging English people to move to Scotland. The largest of these towns are Montgomery, West of Glasgow, with a (population 20,000), Slim, North of Edinburgh (population 11,000) and Alanbrooke, West of Glasgow (population 2,000)
  • The second phase was in the direct fall of the Junta where housing boomed and the SDP government wanted to capitalise on this, most of these towns have unfortunately failed. As well as the ghost towns mentioned some other new towns include Spencer, North of Glasgow (population 800), Darwin, South of Manchester (population 240) and Shakespeare, South of Cambridge (population 110).
There have been ethnic clashes, Britain's minority groups, especially black and Muslim Brits were not treated well under the Junta. The worst race riots were the 2001 Catford riots where around 400 people were injured and the 1985 Vauxhall riots where around 200 were injured.
 
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Ugh. A Liberal SNP (more Liberal than OTL anyway). No thank you. Although it's probably a good thing for Scottish democracy to have two pro-Indy parties. I imagine RISE support will...ahem...rise, in the event of the financial crash. Socialist alternative too.

How was Stop the War treated in the twilight years of the Junta? And the CND through the 1970s and 80s?
Stop the War never formed in 2001 as it would've been banned straight away, most anti-war campaigns were smaller grassroots campaigns or organised by established underground groups such as the Peace Pledge Union. By the time protest groups like Stop the War were legalised Britain was already pulling out of Iraq so it was never formed. However many of its OTL leading figures Lindsey German, Tam Dalyell, Jeremy Corbyn etc are active in the Socialist Alternative.

CND was banned under the Junta and leading figures like Tam Dalyell and Malcolm Caldwell were imprisoned (ironically this imprisonment saved Caldwell's life as he was never killed in Cambodia). Again when CND was legalised again Britain was already dropping it's nuclear weapons, so the current iteration of CND is a lot smaller and has a more international outlook.
 
Salmond kept his day job as an Economist, apart from the occasional civil rights march he kept his head down during the Junta years, he never became involved with the SNLA like many Scottish Nationalists. With the fall of the Junta he joined RISE as an activist and was elected to it's Executive Council.

He is generally associated with the social democratic/democratic socialist wing of RISE and voted in favour of Sheridan's expulsion.
I think keeping his head down to focus on banking I can see but I can't see Salmond joining RISE. When Salmond has flirted with left-wing populism, it's been in order to build his base, it's not something he actually believes in.

For example, he founded the 1979 group to increase his prominence within the party, before quickly jettisoning most of its policies in the late 80s/early90s. He opposed the Iraq war to hoover up Labour votes because no one else was. The Alba manifesto was populist in sections because he wanted to win over the likes of Geroge Kerevan and the other disaffected left-wingers in the party. I really can't see him joining an explicitly socialist enterprise.

Slim, North of Edinburgh (population 11,000)

Would that be in the Firth of Forth or Fife?
 
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I think keeping his head down to focus on banking I can see but I can't see Salmond joining RISE. When Salmond has flirted with left-wing populism, it's been in order to build his base, it's not something he actually believes in.

For example, he founded the 1979 group to increase his prominence within the party, before quickly jettisoning most of its policies in the late 80s/early90s. He opposed the Iraq war to hoover up Labour votes because no one else was. The Alba manifesto was populist in sections because he wanted to win over the likes of Geroge Kerevan and the other disaffected left-wingers in the party. I really can't see him joining an explicitly socialist enterprise.



Would that be in the Firth of Forth or Fife?
In Fife Council, on the Firth of Forth near Aberdour
 
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ITTL, how are things in Cambridgeshire and politically, what's things like, plus are there any upcoming changes politically we should know happening there?
Are there any planned boundary changes, e.g. an area transferring from Fenland to Huntingdonshire, etc.?

Does Lisa Nandy exist ITTL and is she still as well-known as in OTL?
 
ITTL, how are things in Cambridgeshire and politically, what's things like, plus are there any upcoming changes politically we should know happening there?
Are there any planned boundary changes, e.g. an area transferring from Fenland to Huntingdonshire, etc.?

Does Lisa Nandy exist ITTL and is she still as well-known as in OTL?
Cambridgeshire is part of the East Anglia province, politically it is obviously dominated by National apart from a few left leaning towns like Norwich and Cambridge, the current Provincial President is Jim Paice, leading a National majority administration.

The current makeup of the East Anglian Provincial Parliament is:
  • National Party - 31
  • Social Democratic Party - 21
  • Socialist Alternative - 2
  • Ecology Party - 1
Nandy is a local SDP politician, she currently serves as Presiding Officer of the Inner West London Provincial Parliament, so well known in London but not so much nationally.
 
IC:
I'm a Canadian citizen with dual U.S. citizenship via an American father; I was born in Yellowknife, Alberta. I'm intending on immigrating to the United Kingdom, working for a major firm based in London, but they have outposts in Cambridgeshire, North Somerset, Leeds and Glasgow so I'm told.

I am a 29-year-old female.

Would I be entitled to get a visa to work here, and keep both citizenships as well if I intend to apply for British citizenship further down the line after 4 - 5 years?
 
Does the military operate any companies that were established during the junta? Do they still exist and if they do, do they pay any taxes or get special privileges. What the government is doing to reduce their influence?
 
IC:
I'm a Canadian citizen with dual U.S. citizenship via an American father; I was born in Yellowknife, Alberta. I'm intending on immigrating to the United Kingdom, working for a major firm based in London, but they have outposts in Cambridgeshire, North Somerset, Leeds and Glasgow so I'm told.

I am a 29-year-old female.

Would I be entitled to get a visa to work here, and keep both citizenships as well if I intend to apply for British citizenship further down the line after 4 - 5 years?
Britain is desperate for people due to the emigration crisis so you'd certainly get a visa and probably be able to get citizenship down the line. The main question is whether you'd want to come to Britain ITTL, it's much weaker economically and struggles with polarisation and political crisis, the firm you work for might not be as large as OTL or even exist.
 
Does the military operate any companies that were established during the junta? Do they still exist and if they do, do they pay any taxes or get special privileges. What the government is doing to reduce their influence?
There's no directly military operated companies but there is a revolving door between the military and industry, so a lot of former top brass have found themselves on the board of major companies and banks. Mostly the government have left them alone, not wanting to spoke potential investors by cracking down on businesses.
 
Britain is desperate for people due to the emigration crisis so you'd certainly get a visa and probably be able to get citizenship down the line. The main question is whether you'd want to come to Britain ITTL, it's much weaker economically and struggles with polarisation and political crisis, the firm you work for might not be as large as OTL or even exist.
Would it cause problems if my Canadian employer was to do large-scale investment locally, and even spend money on building housing (they're a large company with bases in the U.S, India and Australia)?
 
Chapter 38: There is no Alternative Pt.1
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The Alternative still had a committed support base in it's strongholds

“You have to understand the main feeling underpinning the Socialist Alternative in those early days was fear. Most of the SDP guys had spent their Junta days writing pamphlets in Paris, or whispering to each other in civil service backrooms - we spent our Junta being shot at, beaten and imprisoned. We knew if democracy failed and the tanks rolled down the streets, the SDP guys would probably get a slap on the wrist, we would on be lined up against the wall. Many people have said I should have taken a harder stance in negotiations with Alan Johnson, and maybe that's true, but we were facing an extinction level event, I myself had only left prison a few years before the 2005 elections began. My overarching priority between 2005 and 2009 was to avoid a counter-revolution, at all costs.”
- McDonnell interview by QC Magazine (2014)

When Mountbatten died in 1980, many hoped for change, his designated successor Admiral Hill-Norton was a relative liberal compared to others in the First Lord’s inner circle. In homes up and down the country people prayed for an end to the state of emergency that had governed the country for over a decade. Then Hill-Norton gave his infamous speech justifying the continuation of military rule, one line stood out above all - “there is no alternative”. This would mark the darkest days for the left’s resistance fighters. When the Junta fell and democracy rose the Communist Party desperately tried to jury-rig the various left wing parties, unions, paramilitaries and campaign groups into a single unified political force, it was rather like herding cats.

In endless boring committee meetings socialists, tankies, anarchists and trots all bickered. A special point of contention was the alliance’s name, every title would upset one group or another, then the “Socialist Alternative” was suggested as a name, a direct rebuttal to Hill-Norton’s infamous speech - if there was one thing that could unite Britain’s bickering leftists, it was spite. The main linchpin of the Alternative was John McDonnell, the closest thing Britain had to a Gerry Adams figure, leader of the Merseyside Red Brigades, one of Britain's most successful left resistance groups that grew to a national scale. After being imprisoned in the late 80s, McDonnell became a spiritual leader for the British left, emerging as the Alternative’s figurehead.

The thirty years of goodwill McDonnell had built up over the years helped to hold the SA together, he led them into a deal with the SDP, and kept that deal going as the SDP privatised it’s way through the British economy. Now McDonnell’s political capital was all used up, after disappointing electoral results and the European and local level, McDonnell agreed to step aside and allow new talent to come through the party. The Alternative would now have to select a new leader. The SA’s internal politics were byzantine, a compromise necessary to keep the operation together, it worked on a delegate system, with every organisation from the 30,000 member strong Communist Party to the tiny 1,000 member National Union of Mineworkers awarded delegates.

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Everyone's voice needed to be heard, which meant proceedings took hours

“Salma Yaqoob has hit out at the Communist dominated party establishment ‘They should be working hard to build in weaker areas, she says of the Communist Party. ‘But the leadership wants to put their candidates into ‘safe seats’. To me it’s like leaching behaviour." The underlying factor is the uneven development of the Alternative across the country. As well as the tension between a Communist-influenced national organisation and local parties dominated by various community groups and smaller organisations. The result was great success in Merseyside, Manchester and London, but nothing in many other areas. Some constituent organisations are moribund, while the Communist Party is huge, with around 30,000 members, entitling it to around a quarter of the delegates at the coalition’s annual conference.”
- Car crash on the left, Alex Nunns, Red Pepper (2008)

The main dilemma discussed during the leadership election would be the party’s deal with the SDP, the party’s radicals wanted to take the opportunity the financial crisis presented to cut loose and establish itself as a real alternative. The more moderate wing of the party wanted to keep National out at all costs and didn’t want to risk collapsing the government only for the bad old days of the Junta to return. Four candidates would emerge for leader, which was strange considering the party only had 23 MPs. Michael Meacher MP would stand as the McDonnellite candidate, receiving the backing of most of the union bosses and the powerful 50 delegate strong bloc vote of the Communist Party. Meacher was seen as the most supportive of the deal with the SDP, having a strong personal relationship with Alan Johnson and other senior SDP officials.

His main rival would be Diane Abbott MP, a former London Black Panthers fighter, who led and founded the African People’s Socialist Party, an organisation for representing black Brits. Abbott especially saw support from former paramilitaries and the London branches of the Alternative. Abbott was seen as in the middle of the SDP debate, whilst she opposed ending support for the government, she also pledged to be tougher in any future negotiations. Abbott and Meacher represented the two main strands of the anti-Junta left, socialist old guard intellectuals on one side, and the various downtrodden minorities on the other.

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Abbott, alongside figures like Bernie Grant, was a figurehead for Britain's much maligned black community

Alongside the two main candidates there was Salma Yaqoob, MP for the West Midlands and a Muslim civil rights leader, Yaqoob wasn’t a member of any of the Alternative’s constituent parties, she was an independent MP and leading member of the British Muslim Association. Yaqoob was seen as the most hostile to the SDP of the candidates, calling for an immediate end to the SDP pact. Yaqoob was also by far the youngest candidate in a party dominated by old men, aged just 36. The strangest candidate of all was Brian Eno, a former indie musician without a hugely political background, he too had been elected an independent MP with the backing of the Alternative. Eno was backed by the Libertarian and Anarchist wings of the party; he called for an end to the top-down structure of the alliance, wanting it to take a more bottom-up, populist approach to politics.

McDonnell had strove for unity in his party above all else, now with four people running from every possible wing, the leadership election risked tearing the party apart, all he could do was watch the joys of socialist organising, that was democracy for you. McDonnell wasn't the only one looking on in horror, over in Downing Street Johnson’s aides kept a watchful eye over the conference proceedings, the future of the government and possibly even British democracy rested on 200 squabbling leftists coming to some sort of arrangement. Across the proverbial river in the Leader of the Opposition’s Office Tim Collins was having the time of his life

“It isn't news that Bob Crow is not a member of the Michael Meacher fan club, although the phrases he used in his BBC interview last night are extraordinary. He spoke of John McDonnell's leadership being a "tragedy" for the Alternative. The only thing that should cheer those in the McDonnellite ranks, is the rambunctious performance of Michael Meacher. He could not disguise his fury on the Today programme this morning at what he described as "another episode of True Confessions". It may be that the combined attack of all under candidates and their supporters show Meacher is the man to beat. If Meacher's anger is matched by that of other senior Alternative politicians, if they realise that they are in a battle for their own survival. It may be possible that this period of in-fighting is followed by a renewal - the glue that held the left together during the dark days of the Junta.” - Socialist In-Fighting, Nick Robinson’s News Blog (2008)

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Meacher rounded on those making personal attacks against McDonnell
 
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Would it cause problems if my Canadian employer was to do large-scale investment locally, and even spend money on building housing (they're a large company with bases in the U.S, India and Australia)?
The government welcome foreign capital, especially in house-building, but the collapse of Britain's housing market might force them to pull out.
 
I'm really enjoying this TL. I do have a question that might have been asked already though. Why did the Junta not really embrace monetarism? The UK economy seems to bear a resemblance to post-Franco Spain, but I'd have expected any British dictatorship from this period to be more Pinochet-esque, given the Powellite sympathies of many of the would be coup supporters.
 
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