We wrote to the Guardian in 2020 calling on the government to involve citizens and use deliberative democracy in their proposed Constitution, Democracy and Rights Commission.
Guardian letters
The commitments in all the main UK parties' manifestos to set up an assembly, convention or commission to review our democracy was a rare and welcome piece of political unity. The government has now pledged to bring forward its commission on the constitution, democracy and rights (Report, 14 February).
There will be some whose default position will be to blindly oppose the commission as partisan and elitist. Others will say the government should use its new majority to impose whatever it likes. Both ends of this bell curve are wrong. Most of us know that our democracy desperately needs a review, and it needs to be a review where citizens themselves can engage, deliberate and be heard.
This balance can be simply achieved by government beginning its review process by using the globally tried-and-tested tools of deliberative democracy. These are online and offline, including scientifically-selected microcosms of the UK to populate citizens' assemblies and a well-resourced and independently refereed national conversation. These techniques would carefully discover and distil people's practical proposals to be then sent to the commission. The government would then use its electoral legitimacy to take forward recommendations through the normal parliamentary procedures of acceptance, rejection or amendment.
Having a citizens’ contribution using the sensible and thoughtful deliberative processes that are now on offer, there would be a real chance that the outcome would not only be reforming, respected and sustainable, but also widely discussed, understood and accepted across our many false divides.
We and the government should not waste this unique opportunity.
Graham Allen, Convener of the CCUKD