POWER TO THE PEOPLE

This is not a report simply about constitutional change. It is a report about giving people real influence over the bread and butter issues which affect their lives. The disengagement from politics described in these pages cannot be dismissed as the preoccupation of the chattering classes. Its substance has come from the voices of thousands of people around the country who feel quietly angry or depressed. When it comes to politics they feel they are eating stones. Principle and ideas seem to have been replaced with managerialism and public relations. It is as though Proctor and Gamble or Abbey National are running the country. And in answer to this malaise, the parties seem to believe that all problems will be solved by having a new face replace the one that has fallen out of favour alongside the colonising of each other’s policies. However, the blame cannot all be put at the door of politicians and when people are moved beyond the first wave of emotion about political lying and politicians’ self interest or ruminations about the fault of the media, a very different public complaint surfaces. The disquiet is really about having no say. It is about feeling disconnected because voting once every four or five years does not feel like real engagement. Asking people set questions in focus groups or polling is a poor substitute for real democratic processes. Voting itself seems irrelevant to increasing numbers of people: even supposing there is a candidate you like, if you are in a constituency where de outcame is preordained and your favoured choice is not IT, there is no point turning out to the draughty church hall and inserting your vote in the balot box.

POWER - an independent inquiry into Britain´s democracy - Link

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