Citizens' Convention Bill
From Democracywiki
Central Lobby
Status
 Our View There is now cross party recognition that Britain needs to embark on a process of democratic renewal. The new Prime Minister Gordon Brown has pledged to “to build a shared national consensus for a programme of constitutional reform,” while both the Conservative and Liberal Democrat parties have been developing their policies on constitutional reform in recent months. While there is a huge range of opinion on specific measures, the one thing they all seem to agree on is that the public needs to be involved in the process. The Citizens’ Convention Bill seeks to turn this broad consensus into positive action, by committing the Government to setting up a Citizens’ Convention, involving people from across the UK and from all sections of society, and to co-operating with the Convention in implementing its recommendations. Unlock Democracy campaigns for a written constitution, the primary purpose of which would be to set out the limits of what governments may and may not do in our name. We have argued that a written constitution must contain a Bill of Rights, thereby granting every citizen a legal remedy, should they need it, if their rights are infringed by the State. However we believe that the process of achieving constitutional reform is as important as the reform itself. We believe that for the citizens to possess a constitution they need to have built it themselves. When the new South Africa wanted to write a constitution following the end of apartheid it embarked on a wide-scale process of public discussion, debate and participation. This is what we want for the UK. |
This is a Private Members Bill sponsored by Julia Goldsworthy MP, David Chaytor MP and Douglas Carswell MP and supported by Unlock Democracy.
The Citizens Convention Bill was presented by Julia Goldsworthy on 29th June and is due for a second reading on 19th October although it is not expected to progress at this stage.
Although it is unusual for Private members Bills to become law, this can happen , as with the Sustainable Communities Act which was also supported by Unlock Democracy.
What the Bill does
The Citizens’ Convention Bill would commit the Government to establishing a Citizens’ Convention within twelve months of the Bill becoming law, which would actively involve people in deliberating on how to improve the way the UK is governed. The Government would then be required to co-operate with the Convention in deciding on the implementation of those recommendations.
The Bill doesn’t prescribe how the Citizens’ Convention should be composed; that is a matter of further debate and we support initiatives such as Future Britain which seeks to develop new processes for engaging the public in constitutional change. But it does commit the Government to consulting widely on how it should be composed, commits the Government and Convention to take all reasonable steps to ensure that people from the most unrepresented and marginalised sections of society are heard and commits the Convention to holding meetings and other mechanisms to involve citizens in all parts of the United Kingdom.
There are several ways in which this Convention might take shape. The Scottish Constitutional Convention and the British Columbia Citizens’ Assembly on Electoral Reform are just two recent examples.
For more informations on how to involve citizens in constitutional change please see Unlock Democracy's briefing or the article in the recent edition of Citizen
EDM tabled in support of Citizens Convention Bill
Julia Goldsworthy MP tabled an Early Day motion in support of the Bill, which is now supported by over 100 MPs from across the politcal spectrum.
That this House notes the expressed desire of the rt. hon. Member for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath to `build a shared national consensus for a programme of constitutional reform'; believes that a participative process for achieving that consensus and involving citizens more directly in democratic decision-making is required as a matter of urgency; and therefore supports the Citizens' Convention Bill, sponsored by a cross-party group of hon. Members, which would require the establishment of that process.
To see who has signed the EDM please see here
