Gordon Brown (10 Downing Street, Prime Minister): “In Britain we have a largely unwritten constitution. To change that would represent a fundamental and historic shift in our constitutional arrangements. So it is right to involve the public in a sustained debate on whether there is a case for the United Kingdom developing a full British Bill of rights and Duties, or for moving towards a written constitution.”
To achieve this there will be hearings, “in all the regions and nations of this country”
“The changes we propose today and the national debate we now begin are founded upon the conviction that the best answer to disengagement from our democracy is to strengthen our democracy. It is my hope that this dialogue of all the parties and the British people will lead to a new consensus, a more effective democracy and a stronger sense of shared national purpose.”
And the last, 215th, paragraph in the green paper published as Brown spoke says,
“The programme of constitutional reform set out in this document seeks to meet that objective by renewing our democracy. This task does not fall to government alone, but to all the people of these islands – and the discussion now begins.”
(a full transcript of Brown's statement on the Constitution can be found here)
