Local Democracy

Our campaigns method works at the British national level, yet most of the decisions that affect our lives, health, education, policing methods and many others are all taken at a local level. The people who take those decisions are usually local councilors, voted in because of their party affiliation. For them their first loyalty has to be to the party that allows them to stand, and there is often an attachment to an ideology that the majority of the people in the area would not support. We, the ordinary people who pay for and use the services have no say in how they are run. Rather than the continual reorganisation of our services which wastes so much time and effort, we believe it is time to reorganise the local political system that can do so much harm when it fails.

To give people a real influence in how our services are run, and to enable them put things right when they go wrong, we need to ensure that direct democracy is pushed down to these levels. This does not mean that we will have to take every decision that affects these services, but it does mean when, for example, a school is failing, the parents who can see what is happening can do something about it.

Our additions to our political system, the referendum process and the Constitutional Commission, do not force into place a system of direct democracy at local level, however they do give you processes that you can use to make local government more democratic. If you want to introduce direct democracy at local level you will be able to join with others who support you and collect the 100,000 signatures you will need to take your proposals for reform to the Constitutional Commission. If your proposals are well thought out and sensible it is likely they will support you and put your proposals to parliament. Parliament may decide to adopt your proposals and make them law, but if they don't then there will be a referendum on them. If the Commission rejects your proposals then you will have to go the other route and collect the full 400,000 signatures.

These same processes could also be used to create an English Parliament or democratic regional government within England. Some would argue that this would lead to the break up of the United Kingdom, an idea we would strongly disagree with. We believe that it is party political processes that are inherently divisive, forcing us to take sides. The reality is that most of us in the United Kingdom share the same values, have the same concerns and will happily work with our neighbors for the common good. Switzerland provides us with an example of a nation that we could expect to be deeply divided. There are three main languages spoken, German, French and Italian and in that sense there is no 'Swiss' nationality yet they have stayed together, using their unique system of direct democracy to limit the influence of party politics in their society, respecting their cultural differences and building a prosperous peaceful nation.