Earlier this week, the Prime Minister and the Secretary of State for Justice outlined plans for a new constitutional settlement that entrusts more power to Parliament and the people.
The package proposes the surrender or limiting of historic prime ministerial and executive powers over such matters as the decision to declare war, to dissolve Parliament and to ratify international treaties.
It seeks ways of enhancing the rights and responsibilities of citizens and it proposes a national debate on ways of setting out even more clearly the values that underpin British citizenship.
The package builds on the Labour Government’s many achievements in the field of constitutional reform since 1997. The Government is clear that the proposals published today are not a finished blueprint, but a route-map towards a new constitutional settlement.
In the coming weeks and months the Government will seek to engage not only the other parties but all the people of this country in a debate about the future of the British constitution.
We plan to establish a National Security Committee, chaired by the Prime Minister, and actually publish our National Security Strategy.
To reinvigorate our democracy, we will examine moving polling days from Thursday to the weekend; seek ways for people to petition Parliament to ensure topics are debated, and look at how neighbourhood groups can access devolved or delegated budgets on things such as youth services.
It is a flying start for the new Prime Minister, who has already faced the difficult and challenging decisions surrounding the recent security threats posed by terrorists. There is a genuine desire to listen to see how local people want to be governed, including the question of whether we should have a written constitution or another method of voting in elections. Over the weeks and months ahead I’ll be delighted to hear views from readers of this newspaper on what they want to see from their Government.
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