Why liberals and the left should champion constitutional change
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.
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Failure to engage
Last week I wrote this piece for Liberal Conspiracy about how government websites aren’t exactly built to facilitate the new era of positive political engagement with the public we’re told our masters want.
Specifically, I highlighted Lord Goldsmith’s citizenship review, it’s call for the views of the public, and how if you don’t have the resources to print the review’s PDF pamphlets from the website, you are asked to contact the review team.
So, I did. I asked how I obtain a hard copy of the pamphlet ‘The Future of Citizenship Ceremonies‘. On November 6.
Still no reply a week later.
Let’s get engaged, Gordon
I’ve been giving some thought to positive engagement with political processes – I like the idea of producing a kind of rough and ready primer for the man or woman in the street who wants to get their voice heard.
The Queen’s Speech seems the ideal place to start. So, head to the Number 10 website. Click on the special section all about the Queen’s Speech and select the list of bills, draft bills and statements to see what issues were covered in the speech.
Let’s take a look the Citizenship and Immigration Draft Bill. They’re hot, emotive issues right now. There’s not a lot of detail in the PDF document (what is it about this government and PDFs?) but there is a link at the bottom to Lord Goldsmith’s citizenship review.
Except the link doesn’t work. You can’t click through to the review’s webpage from the PDF document. You can either type the web address manually into your web browser or try another angle.
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