David Smith (Weymouth, Saving Democracy): The Liberal Democrats are to be congratulated on taking democratic reform more seriously than of late, and for their paper "For the People by the People". What is not clear is how they expect their proposals ever to be implemented: there is as yet no popular mandate for such reforms. Charter 88 has, I believe, attracted some 70,000 signatures over the years, although many will have long since forgotten they signed. The number of anti war protesters exceeds this number by far, and yet represents a minority of the electorate. We have somehow to connect others to the issue of democratic reform.
The case for democratic reform is commonly framed in terms of engaging people in politics and preserving rights and freedoms. The question of the quality of government is rarely considered, although this impacts more on our daily lives. Our current system is said to deliver "Strong Government". It is only strong in the sense that it is not challenged and hence is unaccountable. I maintain that this leads to bad government. Certainly the record of Whitehall's performance since the Second World War and no doubt before that, leaves much to be desired. In spite of continuing Civil Service reform, the New Labour record on delivery is appalling. The fault does not lie with the Civil Service alone, but has more to do with the relationship between ministers and Civil Servants. At bottom it is the lack of external accountability that has allowed this issue to go unresolved. External accountability ultimately rests with Parliament.
We need to reframe the argument for democratic reform to include the need for accountable and competent government. We have to shift the public focus on parliament as something that provides an arena in which the parties fight for power, towards parliament as the body that should hold government to account. If this shift in perception could be achieved we could draw in those campaigning on public services, council tax etc., a much wider constituency, harnessing them into a movement for holding government systematically to account. This is what Saving Democracy proposes to do - please visit us for ways in which you can lend your support.
