There is no question that the last few weeks have been the worst for British politics in my life time. And with very just cause. The public are revolted, disgusted and appalled. This is not limited to those outside the political sphere, activists who knock on doors, stuff envelopes, and deliver leaflets in support of their party feel particularly betrayed.
But there has been a typically British revolution simmering away for many years - not violent but one that has turned its back on politicians and the political class. The expense claims have been the lightening rod for this sense of disillusion, disempowerment and disengagement from our political process. Politics in this country have not been right for a long time.
Power has resided in the wrong places – centralised in Whitehall with faceless politicians and even more invisible bureaucrats deciding our futures. We are harassed by illogical inflexible procedures and pushed around by officialdom.
Why is it that we are educating people more while imprisoning them with regulations that inhibit their innovation and self-reliance. We are making people “compliant” rather than allowing diversity of opinion and approach to life and work. We have more regulation “police” monitoring our businesses and telling our local public servants how to do their jobs, giving them no opportunity to exercise their own sound judgement. As a people we are becoming fearful of risk, inhibited from being different, creating a grey society that is judged through box ticking as either compliant and obedient or risky and dangerously “adventurous”.
Our lives have become dominated by rules, not commonsense, treating us with no respect, showing us little dignity and affording us no discretion.
A radical approach is needed to change the nature of politics in our country. One that acknowledges the mistakes made by those in power, recognises that politics needs to change fundamentally, articulates the solution and then delivers. And the radical agenda must be to redistribute power from the centre to the man and woman in every community.
As a member of the Conservative Democracy Taskforce I was very pleased that David Cameron is proposing such a radical change. It is not just the political anorak proposals about select committees and parliamentary procedure that matters. It is the reversal of the chain of command that Cameron stated that is important … putting the power back with the people, power of communities for communities, and judged by communities. We need to give people the levers of power to determine their future – achieve success and yes, make mistakes.
Power will be taken back by our communities to decide on the housing we need and abolish regional unelected quangos. Parents need more powers to chose the schools that their children deserve. The people need the right to initiate local or national referenda on issues that matter to them. Power needs to shift – "From the state to citizens; from the government to parliament; from Whitehall to communities; from Brussels to Britain; from judges to the people; from bureaucracy to democracy."
And if you really want change that hits MPs then Cameron has promised one other thing that will put a smile of every voters face - a reduction in the number of MPs… A truly British Revolution in the making…
Comments
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/27/nick-clegg-a-new-politics"Conservative Democracy Taskforce"? Quite an oxymoron we seem to have invented. Power has lain in the wrong hands, but the conservatives have no answers on how to give it back. If the tories were serious about empowering communities they'd stop this non sensical deification of the "right to choose" in public services. Why? Because every major survey of the British public on the topic finds again and again that people don't want the right to choose their hospitals, they just want good hospitals. They don't care if their child is only eligible to go to the school down the road, as long as it is a good school! If the tories were serious about democratizing British politics they would start, not end with listening to the public. They have the cart before the horse and just drive on eagerly. "Tally Ho!"
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