harrogateagenda.org.uk
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Niall Warry - Director. 1 Recognition of our sovereignty. 2 Real local democracy. 3 Separation of powers. 4 The people’s consent. 5 No taxation or spending without consent. 6 A constitutional convention.
harrogateagenda.org.uk
The Harrogate Agenda
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/Default.aspx
The premise on which our movement is based is that democracy means "people power". The word democracy stems from the Greek word, dēmokratía. Comprising two parts: dêmos. Power". Without a demos, there is no democracy. But people without power is not democracy either. 1 Recognition of our sovereignty. 2 Real local democracy. 3 Separation of powers. The executive shall be separated from the legislature. To that effect, prime ministers shall be elected by popular vote; they shall appoint their own minis...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
3. Separation of powers
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83221
3 Separation of powers. The primary concern here is that there should be a clear distinction between the legislature (Parliament) and the executive (Government). Should the executive thus be separated, the obvious and logical outcome is that the prime minister and his ministerial team would no longer be Members of Parliament. Prime ministers would have to be elected in their own right, a process which would reflect the increasingly presidential nature of general election contests. In practical terms, mem...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
5. No taxation or spending without consent
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83223
5 No taxation or spending without consent. Our next milestone is the idea of annual referendums on government budgets, national and local. Whereas the American Revolution rejected taxation without representation, we go further and reject taxation (and spending) without consent. This stems from experiments to assess the effect of referendums on increases in Council Tax, all in the context, incidentally, where the Department for Communities and Local Government acknowledged such referendums would take powe...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
The Harrogate Agenda
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83205
The premise on which our movement is based is that democracy means "people power". The word democracy stems from the Greek word, dēmokratía. Comprising two parts: dêmos. Power". Without a demos, there is no democracy. But people without power is not democracy either. 1 Recognition of our sovereignty. 2 Real local democracy. 3 Separation of powers. The executive shall be separated from the legislature. To that effect, prime ministers shall be elected by popular vote; they shall appoint their own minis...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
4. The people’s consent
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83222
4 The people’s consent. The power to make law, and especially to reject it, is a measure of sovereignty. If the people have the power to demand that specific laws be made, or if they can refuse to accept proposals for new laws, this is known as direct democracy the only true form of democracy. The most obvious and common mechanism for expressing such true democracy is the referendum. To enable the public voice to be heard, we see no reason why a take note referendum should not play a part in raising issu...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
6. A constitutional convention
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83224
6 A constitutional convention. The idea of a codified constitution is a popular one, especially one modelled on the Swiss constitution, which enshrines limited direct democracy. However, that document, which runs to 76 pages, does not necessarily provide a model for us. It is a composite document that comprises only in part a constitution. Mainly, it is a Bill of Rights. Nevertheless, if we are to have our own constitution, it must be produced by we the people . This is not something government can d...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
1. Recognition of our sovereignty
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83219
1 Recognition of our sovereignty. One consequence of Germany losing the Second World War was that the successor state to the Third Reich had imposed upon it a new constitution, in which British legal experts had a part to play. It is thus highly significant that Article 20 of that constitution (the Basic Law) declares that all state authority comes from the people. Although not specifically stated, the effect of this was to recognise that the German people are sovereign. The form taken by any formal reco...
harrogateagenda.org.uk
2. Real local democracy
http://harrogateagenda.org.uk/blogview.aspx?blogno=83220
2 Real local democracy. What applies nationally must apply locally. All politics is local, a former US Speaker of the House, Tip O’Neill, once famously said. He went on to say that politicians must appeal to the simple, mundane and everyday concerns of those who elect them into office. It is those personal issues, rather than big and intangible ideas, which most voters care most about, contradicting the notion that, in local elections, people are casting votes to send a message to the highest levels.
