What Needs To Be Done - 2.0
1 - A modern, secular, egalitarian and fundamentally democratic constitution for a civil society, to include all aspects of the UN Declaration of Human Rights, Children's Rights, and a Bill of Rights, incorporated as the highest law of the land.
2 - A republican federation of regional autonomies – with a UK parliament and president. Wales, Scotland, Regions of England all with autonomy and regional parliament, president and legislative powers. Maybe a combination of the best aspects of the German and Spanish models.
3 - An elected Senate and an elected Congress, members of both houses being directly elected, members of the Senate representing regions/counties, members of the Senate representing UK wide party lists.
4 - Proportional representation – there is a tendency to prefer STV. A system based on the d'Hondt method would be very robust as well as highly representative.
5 - Right of voters to recall and to replace MPs. For example, on a quarterly cycle. Every three months (or so) a constituency has the right to vote to recall it's representative MP – maybe this should be limited to twice in any calendar year. e.g.The right to recall MPs: this would enable electors to force a recall election at any time, if sufficient numbers of registered voters (say 25%) are dissatisfied with their MP's performance and sign a recall petition.
6 - A presidential system, preferably based on the Irish model .. not a monarchy
7 - A revamped Judiciary that reflects the constitutional rights and defends the implicit liberties and freedoms of individuals and groups.
8 - A separate and empowered Constitutional Court, removed from the Judiciary, the Legislature and Government.
9 - A permanent war crimes tribunal.
10 - A permanent ban on all professional corporate lobbying. Transparent, traceable and accountable interaction between elected officials, civil servants and special interest groups.
11 - Elections for all Public offices - no appointments on the nod.
12 - A new Central Bank, a new banking regulatory body with teeth, not a banker´s club. Membership of the Euosystem .. i.e. a new CB and a new currency .. the EUR .. to replace the BoE and the GBP.
13 - Partition of executive, legislative and judicial branches.
14 - A rigorous restriction on all electoral expenditure.
15 - A legal requirement for all parties to be allowed and required to select and elect candidates democratically, and not on the nod. Right of party constituencies to reject candidates proposed by the party hierarchy. Right of party constituencies to propose and select their own candidates without central interference.
16 - Fixed terms for party leaders. For example, in Finland the party leader isn't elected until they are opposed, they are elected for a fixed term. So for example Blair would have had to stand for re-election as Labour Party leader every four years. This would allow parties to replace their leaders in much the same way we replace governments/MPs, by regular elections.
17 - The primary duty and responsibility of the armed forces must be to uphold the constitution and the secularity of the federation, to safeguard its institutions and to uphold the rights and competencies of the individual communities of a federal UK.
18 - Abolition of the royal prerogative, which gives the prime minister sweeping powers similar to an absolute monarch. These powers, such the power to declare war, should be transferred to MPs and require parliamentary approval.
19 - Strengthen the powers of select committees to enable backbench MPs to hold the government in check. This would include the right of MPs to elect the members and chairs of select committees, with every MP being guaranteed a place on a select committee so they all have specific areas of legislative work. It would also involve sufficient staff to service the committees to make them more effective, and require all government appointments to be subject to confirmation hearings by the relevant select committee.
20 - Abolition of unelected quangos (invariably appointed by political patronage) and the transfer of their powers to democratically elected and accountable local or regional government bodies.
21 - Greater powers for backbench MPs to introduce legislation and to determine the parliamentary business programme.
22 - Etc. etc, etc.
Some Useful Links
- Make My Vote Count - Make Votes Count is the coalition that campaigns for referendum on a more representative voting system. It has brought together all the organisations campaigning for reform, these are: Christian Socialist Movement, Conservative Action for Electoral Reform, Electoral Reform Society, Fawcett Society, Green Party, Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform, the Liberal Democrats, Plaid Cymru, Unlock Democracy (incorporating Charter88) and X-Change. Make Votes Count also has over ten thousand individual supporters.
- Unlock Democracy - Unlock Democracy (incorporating Charter 88) is the UK’s leading campaign for democracy, rights and freedoms. A grassroots movement, owned and run by their members. In particular, they campaign for:
- Electoral Reform Society - Arguments in favour of STV http://www.electoral-reform.org.uk/article.php?id=103
Now, a fundamental principle of constitutionalism posits that the exercise of legislative power is only in agreement with previously established principles of superior law. In modern democracies, that agreement is entered among the sovereign people – not by parliament. In this way, the day-by-day exercise of civic power is, at least in theory, limited by democratically established first principles of superior law. Those principles would invariably define the structure of government, the ceding of power to it, and the imposition of limitations on the exercise of its power.
Of course, the amendment of a constitution should be permissible, and there are mechanisms that a country may codify and incorporate in the constitution and in organic law, that would permit this to happen.
Some might argue that the sovereignty of parliament over the sovereignty of the people, although an established practice in the UK, also serves to undermine principles of democracy. Nevertheless, whilst the concept of the sovereignty of the people may offend constitutional traditionalists, it is not a substantive reason for leaving things as they are.
Of course, the type of modern constitution that I am alluding to is not the traditional legal document full of rules that very few can understand. My idea of a constitution is of a shared manifesto, a statement of ideals, embodying collective aspirations, freedoms, rights and obligations, expressed in plain language and codified in meta-rules.
A constitution could easily embody many aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, as codified meta-rules, that would serve to constrain and control the will of the executive when it runs counter to the will of the people.
For example, article 5 of the UNDHR, which simply states:
No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
How difficult would it be for professional lawyers to turn this article into a set of constitutional meta-rules and guiding principles?
The constitution, as mentioned elsewhere, would provide the framework
Therefore, I still take that view that the argument for a written constitution, one that also embodies the UNDHR, is feasible, viable and doable. It would provide a valuable framework for the reinvention and restructuring of the political and legal system in the UK.
Of course, those who would be gaining least from it are the most likely to overlook such a nascent proposal. Whilst it would serve to impose the sovereignty of the people, the political ruling class might imagine that they would have a lot to lose, if such an idea were to become reality.
So, just how difficult would it be to embody the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into a written constitution, as narrative and meta-rules?
Print | posted on Tuesday, May 26, 2009 5:35 PM