We need to change how the system works

Back in the early 19th century I can envisage the rich and powerful saying that slavery might be wrong but that is how the system works. Fortunately the more enlightened managed to change the system. Similarly in the early 20th century I can see privileged males telling suffragettes that men have the vote because that is how the system works. Few would defend that system now. Later on Gandhi, Mandela, Lech Wałęsa, Martin Luther King Jnr and others improved the lives of multitudes by challenging and changing ‘the way the system works’.

The UK Government is committed to a Constitution, Democracy & Rights Commission “to restore trust in our institutions and in how our democracy operates”. Given utterances of senior ministers it is reasonable to presume that they have the intention of further consolidating power in their hands.

Neutralising the independence of the courts, undermining the objectivity of the BBC, extending the Royal Prerogative and deforming the Human Rights Act seem to be on their agenda. But it could be a chance for us all to change ‘the way the system works’ and help the UK move to a form of democracy worthy of the name. Restoring trust in democracy could start by asking why one political party typically spends more money on elections that all the others put together, and why the advertising standards code of practice – legal decent honest and truthful – does not apply to election campaigns. Parliament’s Public Administration and Constitutional Affairs Committee is currently considering possible terms of reference for the Commission; your readers may like to follow developments at https://committees.parliament.uk/work/608/the-governments-constitution-democracy-and-rights-commission/ and make their views known.

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