An analysis being published today by the Jury Team, one of the political parties in the newly formed Alliance for Democracy, shows that British troops have been dragged into the Afghan war far more than any other NATO country. 

We have more troops in Afghanistan, compared with our population, than any other NATO country including America:

-         the UK has 154 soldiers for every 1 million of its population
-         France, Germany and Italy have a ratio of only 58, 54 and 52 per million respectively
-         Spain, Portugal and Greece only have 23, 10 and 1 per million respectively
-         The USA has 152 per million, just less than the UK.

Compared with the size of the UK, we have had 12 times more deaths than our European NATO allies since 2006 when the army was redeployed to Afghanistan and John Reid, the Defence Secretary at the time, famously said that "our boys" might leave in three years “without a shot being fired”. 

During 2006-9, Britain had 240 troops killed but Germany had only 19 deaths and Italy only 16.  The total deaths of troops from Germany, Italy, France, Belgium, Spain and Portugal, with a combined population of 273 million, more than 4 times the UK, has been only 76, less than a third of the number of UK fatal casualties. 

This means that per head of population, Britain has suffered 12 times more fatalities than its supposed NATO allies.  It has also suffered relatively nearly double the U.S.A.

This new analysis for the Alliance for Democracy is taken from the latest troop numbers posted last week on the website of the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan which is run by NATO on behalf of the United Nations.

The Alliance for Democracy policy is to "Limit the number of British troops sent to Afghanistan to the average number sent by other NATO countries (relative to their population)".  This would mean that instead of 9,500 troops in Afghanistan, the UK would have only about 4,000.  We would still be fulfilling all of our NATO obligations but would also be saving at least £2 billion a year.  More details of this policy are shown on the extract from the Manifesto attached.

The Alliance for Democracy policy on Afghanistan was shown in a YouGov poll to be supported by 67% of the electorate to 14% against.  There was particularly strong support from females (71%) and from those aged 55+ (75%).

The Alliance for Democracy's policies are based on what the British people want.  The political class have become out of touch with the electorate.  As a result of vested interests and electoral cowardice, the current party system does not deliver the policies that people want.  The traditional political parties do not even properly debate the issues.  Using its own review substantiated by a series of YouGov opinion polls, the Jury Team has researched the areas where the political class and the public have clearly different views.  The Alliance for Democracy will legislate for those policies and then have an authorising referendum before they become law.

More details about the other Proposals of the Jury Team can be seen on www.juryteam.org.  This weekend the Jury Team is launching its new website to encourage candidates to stand for these Proposals at the general election by registering on the Jury Team’s website www.juryteam.org.

Click here for more details of the Jury Team's Afghanistan troop policy.

1. Politics Without Parties

   Members of Parliament should be free to vote on issues other than those in their manifesto

2. Politics With Principles

   Government should be run for the benefit of the people and not for the benefit of any political party.

3. Politics For The People

   The electorate should be asked their views in referendums on major issues and should be able to call for a referendum with a petition from 5% of the electorate