Unlock Democracy

Peter Facey (London, Unlock Democracy): The following announcement originally appeared on the Unlock Democracy website.

Dear friend,

Today I had intended to write to you to encourage you to take part in the Convention on Modern Liberty, of which Unlock Democracy is proud to be a partner organisation. I had intended to write about what an inspiring event I hope it will be, the impressive lineup of speakers, the nationwide parallel sessions that Unlock Democracy is organising with NO2ID and its timeliness.

But events, as ever, have overtaken us.

On Thursday, the Government sneaked out the draft of the innocuous sounding “Freedom of Information (Parliament) Order.” This “statutory instrument” (not an act), if passed, will

“…change the scope of the application of the [Freedom of Information] Act in relation to information held by the House of Commons and House of Lords regarding expenditure in respect of Members of both Houses. This includes information held by either House about expenses claimed by and allowances paid to Members. Such information is no longer within the scope of the Act.”

Tom Griffin (London, OK): David Blunkett became the latest speaker to mark the 20th anniversary of Charter 88 on Wednesday when he delivered an Unlock Democracy lecture at Westminster's Portcullis House.

There was a certain mild irony, albeit a much appreciated one, as Mr Blunkett repeatedly ignored the division bell calling him to vote, in order to continue his speech on the case for organised politics:

One thing that has happened over the last two months is a resurgence of political democracy, of people suddenly rediscovering that politically elected representatives, that formalised political processes, can actually get a grip on, and be dominant in putting wrongs right

In other words, the property owning democracy promoted in the 1980s, the market economy, the voting by proxy in terms of how much wealth you have and how much wealth you can spend as a consumer, has suddenly met the buffers in a big way in the global financial crisis.

Alexandra Runswick (London, Unlock Democracy): On the edge of your seat waiting for the latest exciting instalment on how the British Statement of Values and Citizens Summit is actually going to work? No? Just as well really, as the NCVO sponsored meeting last week with Michael Wills was certainly detail-lite.

Anthony Barnett has rebuked me for not sharing the scintillating insights and fascinating public policy lessons learned from the meeting but to be brutal; there were none. All I can report is that motherhood and apple pie AKA participation and engagement are generally considered to be good things. Michael Wills, as ever, was passionate about the agenda and committed to making the Citizens Summit a meaningful deliberative exercise. I have no doubt that he personally wants the British Statement of Values to be a radical citizen engagement exercise. However I don't see how it can be when so little policy detail is available at this late stage.

Peter Facey on Paying for the Party: Myths and Realities in British Political Finance by Dr Michael Pinto-Duschinsky, Policy Exchange.

(Policy Exchange, April 2008, 64pp)

This Policy Exchage pamphlet offers few solutions to party funding deadlock.

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Fresh from the official merger of Charter 88 and New Politics Network into Unlock Democracy, its director Peter Facey sets out his approach in CiF. He is warm and generous towards the achievement of Charter 88 and takes the argument forward in response to Gordon Brown's Green paper. Is the citizens' summit now being planned believable? Peter makes the case for supporting  its proposals for direct involvement in an independent spirit. He asks a set of questions including

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): Just in time for the collapse of New Labour in a cloud of double-dealing, the escutcheon of Charter 88 has been hammered to the wall of a new campaign for democratic reform, Unlock Democracy, as Peter Facey reports. By coincidence Robin Wilson who was a mover and shaker of Northern Ireland's Democratic Dialogue, in a very nice tribute to Stuart Weir and me, looks back across almost two decades ago to the establishment of Charter 88. He lists more achievements than I might claim,

Peter Facey (London, Unlock Democracy): At a joint general meeting last Saturday, the final stages of the merger between Charter 88 and the New Politics Network saw the formal birth of Unlock Democracy as an organisation in its own right. The name Unlock Democracy was chosen by our members and supporters in a two-stage ballot where it was the most popular result at both the consultative stage (26%) and the final ballot stage (81%).

Anthony Barnett (London, OK): The 100th anniversary of the 1911 Parliament Act can be spotted on the political horizon. Noting that, exactly 96 years ago today, the Act stated that there should be "a Second Chamber constituted on a popular instead of hereditary basis", Unlock Democracy have called for a democratic second chamber to be finally elected in May 2011, just three months short of the Act's centenary,

John Jackson (London, Charter88): Is the sensitivity of Members of Parliament to the mood of those whom they represent reflected in today’s striking development spelt out in a full-page Guardian advert? Without waiting to hear what is in the mind of the new Prime Minister, three backbench MPs, one Labour, one Conservative and one Liberal Democrat, have tabled a bill to compel the creation of a Citizen's Convention to consider, and if thought right, propose changes to the constitution. Which itself establishes how our parliamentary democracy should work.

Jon Bright (London OK): Party representatives start talks today to try and decide on new rules for party funding, following the publication of the review by Hayden Phillips. Unlock Democracy decided to test public opinion and commissioned an ICM poll (opens in a word document). In addition to probing attitudes on party funding they asked: "Which of the following organisations do you think has the most important role to play in Britain's democratic system of government?" Here are the answers.