OurKingdom: We are supporting the following statement initiated by the Power Inquiry. We encourage everybody to sign it using the link provided below. Let us know what you think.
Fellow citizens,
There is a problem with British democracy. It began before 1997 but from the way the Iraq War was executed, to cash for peerages, to the far-reaching but insufficient constitutional reforms which Labour has introduced, there is a growing sense of a failure of government and a deepening public distrust in politics.
Now Gordon Brown has promised to renew our democracy. We ask you to join us in insisting that for this to happen constitutional change must take place democratically through the direct involvement of citizens. In a modern state sovereignty should rest with the people and power should be shared openly and effectively.
So far Mr. Brown has made only one firm commitment with respect to his expected premiership: "I will bring forward reform proposals to renew our constitution with the first draft constitutional reform bill later this year...to build trust in our democracy, we need a more open form of dialogue for citizens and politicians to genuinely debate problems and solutions."
We welcome these words. But they must have real meaning.
Gordon Brown has said his desire is to create a national consensus. But there may well be big disagreements between us over what results we prefer. Some believe in electoral reform and others don't; some believe in an elected upper chamber, others do not; some want far-reaching decentralisation, others want less; some will want a written statement of our democratic rules - others won't. We believe that the consensus that matters should be that we can trust ourselves across all parties to have the debates, agree on the process and vote on their outcomes.
We call for a full deliberative process, like a People's Assembly or convention, which engages people from across the country. Given time and resources we are confident that together we will make the compromises to shape the renewal of our democracy.
We oppose top-down decision making on matters central to our lives and the way our nations are governed. We want a coherent process of reform. All who wish to be involved, should be able to participate in this process of change. We refuse to be patronised with a "dialogue" if the outcomes have already been decided. We ask you to join us in this appeal to all our fellow British citizens and to share our confidence that through a discussion based on evidence we can decide the best way forward. Please add your name to ours at the on-line petition.
Individual supporters as of 6.00pm in the OK office:
Damon Albarn, Yasmin Alibhai Brown, Lisa Appignanesi, Liz Atkins, Emma B, Millie Bannerjee, Anthony Barnett, Rosemary Bechler, David Beetham, Neil Belton, Floella Benjamin, Kierra Box, Jimmy Boyle, Billy Bragg, Carmen Callil, Douglas Carswell MP, Paul Cartledge, John le Carré, Shami Chakrabarti, Karen Chouchan, James Curran, Catherine Dorey, Iain Dale, Lindsay Duncan, Patrick Dunleavy, Lewis Elton, Catherine Fieschi, John Gaventa, Katie Ghose, Vivien Hart, John Harris, Billy Hayes, Simon Heffer, David Held, Judith Herrin, Julia Hobsbawm, Patricia Hodge, Stephen Howe, Tristram Hunt, John Jackson, Paula Jacobs, Bianca Jagger, Jeffrey Jowell, Helena Kennedy, Saira Khan, Francesca Klug, Neal Lawson, Ruth Lister, Miriam Margolyes, David Marquand, Charlie McConnell, Shazia Mirza, George Monbiot, Robert Newman, Jesse Norman, John Osmond, Peter Owen, John Parkinson, Stephen Pollard, Henry Porter, Stuart Proffitt, Philip Pullman, Katherine Rake, Claire Rayner, Ken Ritchie, Tony Robinson, Natalie Samarasinghe, Philippe Sands, Wendy Savage, Roger Scruton, Jamil Sherif, Neil Sherlock, Charlotte Skeet, Gillian Slovo, Roger Smith, Graham Smith, Tom Steinberg, Hanne Stinson, David Swift, Peter Tatchell, Mark Thomas, Carole Tongue, Jenny Topper, James Turner, Hilary Wainwright, Neil Walker, Stuart Weir, Stuart White, Shirley Williams, Canon Kenyon Wright
Organisations:
1990 Trust, Black Londoners Forum, Church Action on Poverty, Compass, Democratic Audit, English PEN, Fawcett Society, Operation Black Vote, Our Kingdom, Peepal Centre Leicester, POWER Inquiry, Liberty NCCL, Unlock Democracy
