This is a commentary on the paper ‘Constitutional reform: Sustaining a viable United Kingdom through the 21st century’,
It is downloadeable at https://consoc.org.uk/publications/constitutional-reform-sustaining-a-viable-united-kingdom-through-the-21st-century-by-thomas-legg-stephen-green-and-martin-donnelly/
This paper sets out some thinking on reform that I believe is shared by many and is a very useful summary of that thinking. However I believe that more radical thinking is needed and recommend that anyone serious about reform should study the thinking of systems thinker and ex partner at pwc Ed Straw. go to his website at https://www.edstraw.com/.
In the meantime I would to comment on some points in the Reform Group paper. I focus on Part 2 – Solutions:
Para 44.1: It needs to be entrenched as well as codified.
Para 50.1 The purists presumably rely on the 1688 (or 1689) English Bill of Rights which is only ordinary legislation passed in very different circumstances.
Para 55: should not be wholly elected.There should be some members appointed by the House of Lords appointments commission using criteria set by the House as a whole. Straw suggests they should have a roles in objectively judging the effectveness of government. There is an argument that the rest should be indirectly elected by lower levels of government as members of the Bundesrat are elected.
Para 56: AMS was chosen by the Blair government because the Labour party wanted a system in which they, rather than voters had more control. Party dogma is part of the problem it should be STV.
Along with most suggestions as to what should be included in a constitution the paper fails to mention features that any modern constitution should include including ending the blame culture and ensuring that mainstream media tell the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
If a plane crashes there is a thorough investigation of the causes; it is not always put down to pilot error. But for example if someone dies as a result of failings in the dwp someone is blamed rather than the root causes established. Inadequacies in systems and procedures are not corrected.
Corporate media cannot be prevented from expressing opinions favourable to their owners but they should distinguish fact from opinion; they should not be allowed to base their opinions on false ‘facts’. The BBC should be neutral and tell the whole truth; government should have no hand in its governance.
