Jon Bright (London, OK): Further to last week's liberty speech, the government have published three consultation papers on some of the proposed constitutional tinkering set out in this summer's Green Paper. Of course this is going to have the cynical spluttering into their morning coffee - but this is a (slim) chance to try and take some control of the process. The three papers are available in pdf format, with (very complicated) questionnaires at the back, and details about where to email completed questionnaires into in each one. Closing date is the 17th of January. The government is consulting on:
- Limiting executive power over War and Treaties
If you have time (and it is very time consuming), it seems worth responding, if only to take the government at their word. I have not read any of the papers (yet), but I do note that, for example, the one covering protest around parliament has so far been produced in consultation with only ACPO, the GLA, the Met, the Ministry of Justice and the Sergeant at Arms - in other words, no organisations that might actually be interested in protesting outside parliament themselves have been included. This process could be a chance to restore some balance.
We will find out in February what the results were, and what impact (if any) they will have on policy.
UPDATE: I'm adding these links to the sidebar for future reference...
