Unlock Democracy launches new campaign for “Citizens’ Convention”
Article posted by Unlock Democracy
On the eve of Gordon Brown becoming the UK Prime Minister, Unlock Democracy is launching a new campaign for a “Citizens’ Convention”.
Unlock Democracy has drafted a Citizens’ Convention Bill which is to be formally presented in the House of Commons on Tuesday by a cross-party group of MPs: Julia Goldsworthy MP (Liberal Democrat), David Chaytor MP (Labour) and Douglas Carswell MP (Conservative). The Bill will commit the Government to establishing a constitutional convention in order to involve people from all sections of society in improving the way the United Kingdom is governed.
Commenting on the Bill, Director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said:
“There is broad agreement that we need to reform the way Britain is governed, and that the British people themselves need to be given a central role in deciding what form that reform is to take. Gordon Brown himself talked of the need to ‘build a shared national consensus for a programme of constitutional reform’ when he launched his leadership campaign. This Bill is designed to move on from rhetoric to action.
“The Citizens’ Convention Bill would kick off the process by requiring the Government to establish a Citizens’ Convention within twelve months. It is a cross-party initiative supported by MPs from the three main political parties. We are hopeful that the new Prime Minister will seize this opportunity to start a national debate on how Britain should be governed.”
Unlock Democracy’s Campaign Director Ron Bailey added:
“Earlier this month, the Government embraced new politics by lending its support to our Sustainable Communities Bill. The Citizens’ Convention Bill will do at a national level what the Sustainable Communities Bill did locally: give people more power to decide how their society is run. We aren’t claiming to know what the outcome of such a process will be; just that it will go a long way to dealing with the sense of alienation that people from all sections of society increasingly feel about politics.”
Draft Text of Citizens Convention Bill
Long title: “A Bill to require the Secretary of State to establish a Citizens’ Convention in order to actively involve people from all sections of society in improving the way in which the United Kingdom is governed; to require the Convention to make recommendations and to require the Secretary of State to co-operate with the Convention in deciding on the implementation of those recommendations.”
June 26th, 2007 at 8:13 am
[...] Unlock Democracy carries news of a new cross-party initiative: Unlock Democracy has drafted a Citizens’ Convention Bill which is to be formally presented in the House of Commons on Tuesday by a cross-party group of MPs: Julia Goldsworthy MP (Liberal Democrat), David Chaytor MP (Labour) and Douglas Carswell MP (Conservative). The Bill will commit the Government to establishing a constitutional convention in order to involve people from all sections of society in improving the way the United Kingdom is governed. [...]
June 26th, 2007 at 10:00 am
There has alraedy been extensive consutation with the peoples of Scotland ,Wales and Northern Ireland . There has been a Scottish Constiutional Convention which you seem to ignore .
England , AS England , has had nothing . There was only aan effectively racist attempt by the British state to eradicate England via regionalism , which was roundly rejected by the English . England has no representation , other than through the British parliament which is always mute when representation of England is concerned .
What you propose ignores – probably deliberately – the vast English elephant in the room . Worse , you imply that trying to include England in a UK constitutional convention alongside countries which already have their own parliaments and multiple layers of represenation , will solve the problem of the bias agianst England in the British state .
There is only one way out of this and that is a referendum ,IN ENGLAND ONLY , on the subject of an English Parliament and English self rule . This implies a federal British state in which the British parliament confines itself to specifically pan British matters only .
June 26th, 2007 at 10:26 am
[...] The Citizens Convention Bill June 26, 2007 at 8:26 am | In Citizens Convention | OurKingdom: Here is the Citizens’ Convention Bill, drafted by Unlock Democracy and published today. It is being sponsored by Douglas Carswell MP (Conservative), David Chaytor MP (Labour), Julia Goldsworthy MP (Lib-Dem). [...]
July 5th, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Indeed, the only way that this form of approach is going to succeed in engaging the public en masse is to play the English card. If the identified need for constitutional change is pursued without addressing the status of the English nation any and all outcomes, however laudable, will be purposeless.
The level of cynicism is such that no political initiative is in reality seen as much more than a Westminster village love in with no meaningful outcome other than some pretty brochures and a Powerpoint presentation.