Anthony Barnett (London, OK): In his Manchester speech to the Labour Party today, Gordon Brown talked about a new role for citizens juries (see the post below for the full passage). He also talks of "giving more power to the people".
Before the speech in his interview with Jon Sopel on the BBC Politics Show he emphasized the evolutionary nature of his approach. And this is what he said to Sopel about citizens juries: "In 2007, you have got to engage and involve people much more... engage them in discussing a big issue, it could be smoking, I did one on that, I did one on the British way of life… you work through the problem. I believe that citizens juries and citizen jury service could be a thing of the future: inviting people in all parts of the country... 100 or 200 or 300 people discussing an issue through. [They] feedback to government and then government responding and saying this is what we are going to do as a result. This is an important way of consulting."
Perhaps it is. But citizens juries are supposed to work just like juries in a court of law. They decide things. What motivates members of a citizen's jury to concentrate their attention and give their time, is that a binding outcome will follow. The definition of the issue put to them, the parameters of the decision, just like a judge's advice to a jury, are for the government. But the outcome is not consultation, it gives them power.
