The importance of Localism.

Our second demand ' Real Local Democracy' wants to see 'Localism' being taken seriously and a complete reversal of the current situation where more and more power is centralised.

The blogger Raedwald has a fine post here on this subject:-

http://raedwald.blogspot.com/2019/01/reform-and-renewal-localism.html

In it he refers to the government's 'Power to the People Report' of 2006, chaired by Baroness Helena Kennedy, heralded no less by the likes of David Cameron as a very important piece of work to restore and update our democracy.

This report had 12 key recommendations I summaries below:-

1. Donations to political parties to be capped at £10,000.
2. A voters voucher allowing individuals to allocate £3 of state funding to a particular party.
3. Voters given the chance to put forward laws.
4. Voting age reduced to 16.
5. 70% elected House of Lords.
6. Monthly logs to monitor ministerial contacts with companies, lobbyists & Advocacy groups.
7. Restriction on the power of the party whips.
8. Replacement of FPTP for a more 'responsive' system for all national and local elections.
9. Abolition of closed party list system.
10. Election deposits of £500 replaced by a certain number of signatures.
11. The realignment of constituency boundaries to be accelerated.
12. Decentralising of power to local government.

What ever happened to this report - nothing is the answer for as the saying goes 'Turkeys would never vote for Christmas'.

The answers to improve our democracy are contain in our six demands and unless and until the people demand these changes, from their elected officials, nothing is going to change.