…from lobbyists, big business and the power of the national press – change to Direct Democracy: binding referendums at the lowest possible level.

Power to the People!

Get rid of the laws protecting corporations from prosecution.

I suspect that you have already approached them so why are’nt they on board, especially the Telegraph.

‘Political system should and must be addressed ASAP so the British people can have confidence again.’ – Iain, Invercylde

‘Electoral reform must be at the heart of changes to our political system.’ Steve, Suffolk

‘Changing the way we do politics will enable us to then concentrate on the issues relevant to ordinary people – it has to come first, and with it, hopefully a more active participation in politics.’ Sophie, Gloucestershire

‘As an employee of the Royal Mail I find it quite deplorable that this current Government and most probably the next one feel the need to part privatise the Royal Mail in pursuit of a quick short term gain, despite a large percentage of the UK population wishing for it to remain wholly within the realm’s of the Government and the public sector.’ – Rob, Bradford

‘We need an excellent political system before we can adequately deal with the everyday issues.’ – Joseph

‘Of all options I would prefer to see a Recall Law put in place and preferably before too many people see voting as a complete waste of time.’ – Robert, Nottinghamshire

‘I think that it is good to have issues coming up and in the pipeline that 38 degrees will campaign in, but it is important to ensure that what is current – ‘recall’ – is the main focus and is hit home until the change required is successful.’ – Michael, Penzance

‘Why suggest just one “citizens’ jury”? Surely if we seek to introduce more participatory and deliberative elements to our democracy we should use a form that is itself deliberative and participatory – i.e. a collection of citizens’ assemblies up and down the country.’ – George, Bath

‘Let’s sort out the long awaited reform of the Lords’ – Bernard, Buckinghamshire.

‘Campaign for transparency – from expenses to the law making process.’ Paul, Liverpool

‘As part of the parliamentary reforms being demanded to the political system, all parties and parliament should be bound to prioritise the imminent crisis of climate change.’ Peter, Bedford

Perhaps a better way to organise Parliament would be to select all MPs using the Jury system. This would have the advantage that it would do away with any claims that women / gays / ethnic minorities / etc. were underrepresented in Government, and ensure everyone equally represented.

As a longtime member of Charter 88 (now Unlock Democracy), I have been a suppporter of almost any system of PR (whatever the faults therein) to break the stranglehold maintained by the two largest political parties in the UK. This would also help to limit the unseen and underhand power wielded by the lobby groups with vested interests in maintaining the status quo.

However, one significant power is already available in the form of the Sustainable Communities Act (promoted and virtually forced through Parliament by Charter 88 / UD) which is intended to be used by Local Authorities to wrest power from Westminster and enable local action and funding in place of dictation from “above”. Please urge your Local Authority to use this Act for all their worth to this end, if they aren’t already doing so.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/PRepresent/

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to on the day of
the next general election hold a binding referendum on whether
to change to a more proportional electoral system. This should
be drawn up by a large jury of randomly selected citizens,
given the time and information to deliberate on what voting
system and other changes would make Parliament more accountable
to citizens.

This petition specifically demands that a system of PR is
decided by a jury of the people.

One was that our MPs could suddenly produce cheques for huge sums of money, to repay the ‘oversights’ that had been pointed out to them recently (I know I couldn’t write a cheque for several thousand pounds tomorrow, and I doubt many other people could either).

The second was that the UK has more Politicians than countries such as India – which has a population many times the size of ours.

Therefore, it seems obvious that the Government needs to be stripped down to the bare minimum, where it is *only* involved with protecting the basics that its citizens need to get by in life (things like Education, Healthcare, Defence of the country and making sure that people don’t get cheated/ripped off etc.)

As a result of all the Government’s recent meddling in other countries politics, encouraging the creation of ‘non jobs’, taking part in illegal wars and supporting the financial services sector above any other, the UK has being left with crippling debts – which will all have to be paid back at some point.

So, whichever party wins the next election – unless an organization such as 38 Degrees can keep reminding the Government of its many failures, and continue to spell out that there are better/simpler ways to run the country – future Governments _will_ conveniently forget about the massive amounts of guaranteed ‘Bonuses’ and ‘Expenses’ that have flooded into Bankers and MPs pockets; so that they can continue paying them in some form or other.

I predict that, unless there is a change, the claim will continue to be the same hackneyed ‘lack of money has forced us to cut investment in public services’, whilst ‘higher/more taxes are needed to bring in yet another layer of bureaucracy’. Which will in turn impose even more complicated regulations on businesses, the expense of which will simply get passed on to ordinary people like you and me – who cannot claim expenses or pass our costs along to somebody else.