Iain Kearns (London, ippr):This is a serious and historic drive for reform. The move towards creating a written constitution and the call for a debate on a British Bill of Rights, if driven through, promise to bring a genuine redistribution of power away from the government and towards Parliament and the public.
Reforms to the prerogative powers exercised by Ministers, like the decision on going to war, the PM’s powers of patronage and the strengthening of Parliamentary Select Committees could further underpin a real revival of Parliamentary democracy and cabinet government.
Using democracy, like citizens juries, public petitions, local referenda, community asset transfer and a compact between central and local government could also make the ideas of ‘localism’ and ‘power to the people’ more meaningful.
(take a look at ippr's Future of the Constitution project here)
