Today [Thursday] is the day in Parliament where a lucky few MPs are given the chance to make law. 20 MPs’ names are pulled out of Black Rod’s stocking* who are given the chance of bringing forward a Private Members Bill that has a realistic chance of becoming law. The higher up the list, the better the chance.

In practice what this means is that the top 7 briefly become the most popular politicians in Westminster. They will be wined, dined and flattered by pressure groups, lobbying firms and individuals, intent on persuading the Honorable Member to adopt their proposed bill. I’ll be one of those people, pushing for the Citizens’ Convention Bill, and I’d like to persuade you to join me.

Reforming the constitution has always been a concern of the liberal left. The Guardian has recently been shouting about the Putney Debates. Following on from the Levellers, there were the Chartists. The Liberal Party emerged out of the process that got us the Great Reform Act. The Trade Union movement was always keenly aware of the nature of power. In the 20th century the Suffragists extended the franchise even further while issues ranging from Lords reform (or abolition), devolution and fair votes have been ongoing debates that have never quite resulted in action but have always been predominantly lead by those on the liberal left.

We need change and this is something that all the main political parties are now signed up to. What we have not yet persuaded politicians of yet however is that change cannot be simply on their terms. So it is that Gordon Brown made a point early in his premiership to unveil a wide range of constitutional reforms, along with the promise of more. His specific proposals however were very much the lowest of the hanging fruit: parliamentary votes on whether to hold elections or go to war; more scrutiny of appointments and international treaties; a petitions committee.

At the same time, a whole range of issues were ruled out: resolving the West Lothian question, fixed term Parliaments, regional government and decentralisation, our continued role in the European Union. They are expected to publish a long awaited review of UK electoral systems by the end of the year, but there is no expectation that this will result in anything significant or allow the possibility of actual reform.

The Citizens’ Convention Bill would force the government to set up a citizen-led convention which investigate how Britain is governed and make proposals for how this should be changed. The government would then have to co-operate in implementing these recommendations. We aren’t at this stage interested in being dogmatic about how the convention itself should be structured; we want a national debate about this first. The Bill however is clear about two things. Firstly, this process should reach out to beyond the usual suspects and engage with the most under-represented and disadvantaged sections of society. Secondly, this is not to be just another consultation process: the government would not be able to reject the proposals without giving a firm reason why.

The Citizens’ Convention Bill is in many ways the Big Sister of a piece of legislation that Unlock Democracy has already played a crucial role in getting through Parliament: the Sustainable Communities Act 2007. This Act does a similar thing, but at a local level and is specifically concerned with tackling community and social decline (including political participation). It proved a Herculean task in pushing it through Parliament in the face of hostile opposition from the civil service.

Ultimately we prevailed because we were able to draw on the experience and tenacity of Unlock Democracy’s Campaigns Director Ron Bailey, the cross party support of nearly 400 MPs and tens of thousands of individuals, national organisations, parish councils and community groups ranging from the National Federation of Women’s Institutes through to the Public and Community Services Union.

The latter was the most crucial: it gave us bargaining power that ensured we could get the bill through Parliament relatively unscathed. Without a mass movement behind us, it is unlikely we could have convinced so many MPs to support us merely by appealing to their better natures.

To get the Citizens’ Convention Bill through Parliament we will need a grand coalition on a similar scale.

The simplest thing you can do today to help is to visit our website where (as soon after 10am as possible) you will find a list of the MPs who have come top of the ballot. Write to them, preferably all seven of them and ask them to sponsor the Citizens Convention Bill (it doesn’t matter if they are your constituency MP or not).

Campaigns like this normally take between 3 and 5 years to result in actual change, but with all parties now mouthing pieties about constitutional change it is just possible that with enough of a push this Bill could take off. One thing is clear: for the first time in history the right is as pro-active on democratic reform as the left has been. Direct Democracy is a Conservative think tank dedicated to localism and democratic reform. Whether you agree or disagree with the Conservatives, UKIP or the English Democrats on English autonomy and the European democratic deficit, you can’t deny they are the ones doing all the running on these issues. They are even arguing for abolishing the Human Rights Act on the grounds that it is “undemocratic“.

Liberals and the left need to engage with this debate, facing down the worst arguments and accepting where they have a point. The Citizens’ Convention Bill would be a way in.

* Okay, I made the bit about the stocking up, but the rest is true.

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Peter Facey is the Director of Unlock Democracy
This is a guest post.