Graham Allen MP (Nottingham & Whitehall): Jack Straw’s coming out for a written constitution (see OK’s scoop below) gives added hope that finally the British political system will be created on a legitimate and understandable basis. One that allows the British people to prise the political rulebook from the grasp of the Executive.
A written constitution will introduce a new dynamic into British politics. No self-respecting founders would dare produce a snapshot of our current over-centralised system. Imagine enshrining Article 1: “The Chief Executive shall be summoned to office by the unelected Sovereign.” Or Article 2: “All Laws will be subject to veto or delay by an unelected second chamber.” Or Article 3: “Local government will be the creature of statute changeable on the whim of central government”. A written constitution will mark the end of “winner takes all” politics and establish how political power is properly checked, negotiated and accountable – as it should be in a modern democracy. The historic task of the next Labour Prime Minister will be to create a UK democracy which will no longer be embodied and entombed in prerogative power that is then abused in private in No 10. A reformed House of Commons will discomfort the executive; an elected second chamber will want to spread its wings; individuals using the Bill of Rights will expose the Government to the judiciary; constitutionally independent local government will be assertive. Why should a Prime Minister want this? Because, we the people want it because it is our country not his and the next Prime Minister needs to be a democrat. Then, at last, individuals will not only feel greater ownership of the political system and be more demanding of it, but also be less tolerant of the abuse of power and better equipped to put the situation right. Let the debate begin! Let the natives of the last country in the Empire be free to set out how we wish to govern ourselves!
