Conservative Alliance of Cattala

{{Infobox political party Franogei, Celeste }}
 * name              = Conservative Alliance Party
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 * logo              = Conservative-Alliance.png
 * colorcode         = #0087DC
 * leader            = George Lamini
 * chairman          = David Partridge
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 * president         =
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 * spokesperson      =
 * founder           = Lord Secolo Agatha Varmini
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 * founded           = {{Start date and years ago|2013|03|30}}
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 * merged            = Conservative Party and High Tories Group
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 * headquarters      = Conservative House
 * newspaper         =
 * student_wing      =
 * youth_wing        = Young Conservatives
 * membership_year   = 2014
 * membership        = 98,000
 * ideology          = Conservatism Christian Democracy Liberal Conservatism
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 * international     = International Democrat Union
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 * colors            = Regal Blue
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 * seats1_title      = Seats in the Assembly
 * seats1            = {{Infobox political party/seats|55|100|hex=#0087DC}}
 * seats2_title      = Seats in the Senato del Regno
 * seats2            = {{Infobox political party/seats|31|50|hex=#0087DC}}
 * seats3_title      = Provincial Parliamentary Majorities
 * seats3            = {{Infobox political party/seats|4|7|hex=#0087DC}}
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 * website           = {{URL|www.conservatives.org.ukc}}
 * country           = [{Cattala]]
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The Conservative Alliance, officially the Conservative Alliance Party of Cattala, is a major centre-right political party in the United Kingdom of Cattala. As of 2014, the Conservative Alliance is the largest political party in Cattala, commanding a majority in the National Assembly, Senato del Regno, four regional parliaments and more than one hundred local councils.

It was formed in March 2013 by the merger of the Conservative Party and the High Tories Group following a schism in the National Party and the break down of the coalition government between the two parties. Following the 2014 General Election, the centre-right Roumeli Unionist Party joined the Alliance permanently as part of an agreement to secure a majority in both Roumeli's Parliament and the National Assembly.

The party dominates the right-wing of the political spectrum, with its membership extending from liberal conservatives to libertarians and more right-wing traditionalists.

Formation (2013)
A hung parliament in the 2011 General Election resulted in the formation of a coalition between the Conservative Party and Il Popolo, after the High Tory wing of the latter party forced out the leader, Dr Rohan Viscoti. The fragile co-operation that had existed within the two branches of Il Popolo was broken after the ideological strains of being in a centre-right government, and a perceived lack of influence by the Socialist Union wing, led to a resurgence by Dr Viscoti. The Popolo Congress, previously supportive of the Conservative-High Tory coalition, withdrew its support for High Tory leader Agatha Varmini on 26 March 2013, in the aftermath of the Cypriot banking bailout.

On the 27th March 2013, less than two years into the coalition's four-year term, the Popolo Congress held a vote of no confidence in Agatha Varmini's leadership of the party. Varmini did not attend the vote, as she was in an emergency Cabinet meeting about the political deadlock that might ensue. The vote was won by 67 votes to 33 in favour of removing Agatha Varmini as leader and the High Tory delegates walked out.

The following day, the High Tory group announced it would be leaving Il Popolo and establishing an independent, right-wing political party that will continue to serve in coalition with the Conservative Party, which would have a majority of 9 seats in the 100-seat National Assembly.

On the 30th March, the High Tories and Conservative Party leadership confirmed that they were forming a political alliance with the intention of becoming one government party by summer 2013 and one election party by 2015, to be led by High Tory chairman, Alexander Melborne. .

Ousting of Secolo (2014)


Lord Secolo was forced to resign after a no confidence vote in Parliament on the 7 January 2014, just days after being widely supported by the party in a Cabinet vote.

In the weeks leading up to his resignation, Secolo came under intense pressure due to a number of foreign policy crises, including a spying scandal with Corraile and a row in Parliament over the relationship with Sainte-Croix. In December, he won a major foreign policy vote in the National Assembly by a wafer-thin majority of just two votes, after opposition mounted to Sainte-Croix's membership of the Liberal Monarchist Bloc following the Second Black Sea Crisis. Sainte-Croix was later condemned by the government and Parliament amid fears of total rebellion in the National Assembly. The very next day, it was revealed that the Corrailite government had been spying on Cattala in 2012. Secolo defended the strong relationship with Corraile and refused to condemn his ideological allies across the Atlantic. The leadership of Lord Celestine was bought into repeated question by the political discord with key allies of Cattala.

On 5 January, a vote was held in Cabinet by the party leader to establish if senior colleagues were supportive of his leadership during an emergency meeting after media suggestions about a planned no confidence vote, orchestrated by Cabinet rivals. After winning the support of Cabinet ministers and backbench MAs, it was believed that Secolo would comfortably win any confidence vote called by the opposition.

A vote was called on the 7th January, the first morning of Parliament's return from Christmas recess, by the SDP. Secolo won just 31 votes in the National Assembly, with 59 opposed, including 17 Conservative politicians who were rumoured to have been voting on behalf of Cabinet dissidents. The following day, he resigned.

Secolo's deputy Agatha Varmini took over executive power as Acting Chancellor of the Realm, with Alexander Melborne acting as party leader until a successor was appointed on the 8th February. Varmini announced she would not run for the position of party leader, but would instead serve on as Chancellor of State until the General Election in April.

Education Minister George Lamini was selected by the party to succeed Secolo on the 8th February ahead of the Chancellor, Lord Montez, and Foreign Secretary Robert Drake.

2014 Election
The General Election was called by Acting Chancellor Agatha Varmini for the 12th April. Conservative Alliance won 47% of the vote and 49 seats in the National Assembly, losing six seats and their overall majority by just two seats. They won a majority in the Senate with 27 of the 49 seats. For the first time since the 1950s, the Conservatives won a majority in the Jennai Parliament, as well as in Amosseri and Hellas.

One week after polling day the Roumeli Unionist Party, a centre-right party that operated solely in Roumeli, agreed to join the Conservative Alliance in a merger that would unite all major right-wing parties and give the Alliance a five-seat majority in the National Assembly. In return, Roumeli and the other provinces would be given greater powers over transport, spending and infrastructure.

Policies
The Conservative Alliance has continued to push ahead with the policies of the two Secolo governments that existed between 2007 and 2013, with a focus primarily on those within the Coalition agreement of 2011.

Economic Policy


For many decades, the Conservatives have endorsed a low-tax, mixed economy with a focus predominantly on the private sector. The High Tory group broke away from the main party in the 1970s as its faction supported a more laissez-faire economic structure and would later become the main supporters of a Thatcherite economy in Cattala.

Sir Oliver Lanza and his protege, the future Lord Secolo, introduced significant reforms to the Conservative Party after taking control of the party in 2001. The economic policy of the party became a bulwark of its opposition to the socialist-led Il Popolo and the left-leaning Democratic Party, as Lanza led his party against the programme of privatisation by successive Il Popolo governments and the new Democratic leadership.

Since coming to power in 2007, the Conservatives have reduced VAT by 2%, reduced corporation tax by 10% to 20% and introduced a 0% income tax threshold. A programme of privatisation has also been introduced, and extended by the High Tories, including the sale of airports, airlines, banking assets, energy rights and telecoms.

The Conservatives came to power just before the global economic crisis began and have had to deal with a spiralling budget deficit and the nationalisation of the collapsed Capital Banking Group. Austerity measures and budget restrictions were introduced, which proved deeply unpopular but the government argued it was necessary to protect Cattala from the fate of neighbouring countries such as Greece and Cyprus. Public support for the Conservatives on economic matters is the highest of any major parties.

Banking
The coalition government was forced to intervene when the country's second-largest banking group, Capital Bank, came close to bankruptcy in June 2012. At the time, leaders from all three major parties agreed that nationalising the bank and reducing its debt was the best course of action. The Chancellor rejected the advice of the independent Bank of Cattala to split the failed institution into toxic and non-toxic brands.

The government formed the Capital Bank Shares Trust as part of the Bank Stability Fund, which injected $39 billion of liquidity into Capital Bank and nationalised it. The CBST manages the bank for the government and sold off many overseas assets and cut rural services to save money and reduce the banks debts.

Tensions and divided opinions over the issue have emerged since the bank bailout, with First Counsel and High Tory leader Agatha Varmini expressing her discomfort with the high cost of the bailout in March 2013 and hinted that she would not endorse any more funding for the bank, although she denied this later.

The Alliance, upon formation, confirmed that it plans to continue the coalition's policies towards Capital Bank and would seek to return it to the private sector once it is profitable again. However, under the new leadership of George Lamini and Robert Drake in 2014, the sale was accelerated. The bank was broken up, as suggested over a year previously by the Bank of Cattala, and Salanno Trust acquired a majority stake in the retail banking arm.

Foreign Affairs


Since the end of the Second World War, the Conservatives have strongly favoured relations with a variety of nations, and is seen as the most strongly Atlanticist of the major political parties. They led support for Cattala's membership of the Commonwealth of Nations but have broadly opposed European integration.

These policies have continued since the formation of the Alliance, which founded the Liberal Monarchist Bloc in 2013 and re-asserted it support for the Providence Accord, which ties the government to the defence of Arcacia. Despite this, there were coalition plans to reduce foreign aid and cut the number of overseas embassies by 25% as part of the austerity programme. This was reversed after the formation of the Alliance, when a new foreign policy charter was drawn up by Lord Secolo, Lady Varmini and Alexander Melborne.

Plans to reduce the military presence of Cattala and its allies in the Mediterranean, and demand the same of other powers, were scrapped and a policy of targeting embassies and diplomatic assaults on newly-classified "criminal states" was instituted. Robert Drake, who served as Foreign Secretary between 2013 and 2014, was seen as more hawkish than his predecessors. Lord Melborne succeeded him in April 2014.

European Union
The Conservatives have long been opposed to the European Union project, although its leadership in the 1970s agreed membership of the European Free Trade Association and called a referendum on membership of the European Community in 1971, which was held after the collapse of the Conservative government and was rejected by voters.

The High Tories left the Conservative Party in 1970 citing the European policies as a major cause of the schism. Since then, both parties have aligned their views to one of complete opposition to any form of European integration, and voted against signing the European Convention on Human Rights.

The Conservative Alliance has adopted a strong anti-EU stance, with former First Counsel Agatha Varmini strongly criticising the organisation in the past. The Alliance continues to oppose its integration and federalist agenda, arguing in favour of sovereignty and democracy for Cattala.

Defence


The Conservatives have long been hawkish in their international views, supporting overseas military involvement by Cattala. It was a Conservative government, under Lord Chancellor Harrison, that led the last overseas involvement of the army in the 1946-9 Greek Civil War.

During the early 1990s, the party stopped supporting active international military involvement and argued in favour of an enhanced defensive military, rather than one with limited scope overseas. It opposed Il Popolo's re-militarisation programme in the 1990s and pledged to focus on domestic defence capabilities if it had won the 2001 General Election.

Sir Oliver Lanza took control of the party after the 12th consecutive electoral failure in 2001 and openly supported the expansion of the navy and air force to give Cattala "broader protection". His successor, Lord Anthony Secolo, expanded upon this in 2004 when he stated that "Cattala must have a broad, strong military with regional clout. No longer can we, as a Party, argue that this country can be protected by an Armato Salvatore that is bound and chained." The Democratic Government announced within a year plans to build three destroyers, adopting the plans put forward by Secolo.

In 2007, Secolo expanded the re-militarisation programme to include the construction of two additional frigates, and the creation of a new 15-year contract with AriaRegale, a domestic weapons manufacturer, to enhance all four divisions of the military. The Conservatives have adopted a firmly hawkish military stance, and the Secolo governments have issued the highest number of overseas deployments in history.

Religion


The High Tories and Conservatives alike have both been strong supporters for the established Church, the Church of Cattala, for many years. Since its establishment in 1917, the Conservative Party has strongly endorsed the national Church and is seen as the closest party to the Church's views.

During the political crisis following the Mary Illoas case, the Conservatives backed the Church's campaign against legalisation of abortion and was supported by the High Tories, then in government as part of the socialist-dominated Il Popolo.

Since 2001, the Party has identified itself as a Christian Democratic movement, supporting the Church but also recognising the importance of other religious organisations in Cattala, in an effort to gain more votes from ethnic minorities. In 2008, the Civil Partnership Act passed through the National Assembly and received royal assent. This made same-sex relationships legally recognised and civil unions became legal entities. However the bill only narrowly passed and public opinion was split. It caused a split in the Conservative Party and was only passed due to support from the Democratic Party. Lord Secolo did not force his parliamentarians to support the bill, calling for them to vote with their hearts after fearing it could cause a vote of no confidence.

A bill to legalise same-sex marriage and gay adoption was defeated 82-18 in the National Assembly in 2010, and an accompanying bill to allow MSM's to donate blood was defeated 74-26, despite endorsement from the Homosexual Council of Cattala. Secolo instructed his government to vote against the opposition motion, after canvassing his own parliamentarians and grassroots supporters.

Despite a slight relaxing of its stance on religion, the party continues to have intrinsic ties with the Church and many opponents see the Conservative Alliance as a political mouthpiece for the Church of Cattala.

Monarchy
The Conservatives have always been a strongly monarchist political party, and successive leaders have repeated the pledge of founding conservative Lord Frano, who stated that "Cattala and the Crown are synonymous, they are one and the same. The Conservatives must always defend this union."

During the 1949 Cattalian Referendum on the restoration of the monarchy, the Conservatives led the pro-monarchist movement and Lord Harrison, the leader of the party and government at the time, invested significant political capital into the referendum. His protege Lord De Vell protected the monarchy during a programme of constitutional reform. All Conservative leaders since then have argued for the protection of the monarch's powers and the Crown Estate as a public institution.