Ways to better democracy after UK "brexit" referendum /e-petition for repeat

[MM]

Hallo Neil Johnston,


Thank you for reminding us about the e-petition for a second referendum 
about the EU. Now (20:45 on June 26th 2016) there are 3.3 million 
endorsements.


Parliament may debate this proposal but, as we, the electorate, have no 
formal right to demand a referendum, the House would not be obliged to 
comply with the request.


Because the "Brexit" process – instigation, campaigns, level of 
participants' information and public debate – were all deeply flawed, 
there is a case for another, early, referendum on this matter. To do 
this properly we should rapidly introduce well-designed democratic 
procedures such as the citizens' proposition ("initiative") and 
voter-instigated, legally binding referendum. A constitutional basis for 
this innovation in UK is already in place: in the Convention of Civil 
and Political Rights which says that citizens have the right to take 
part in their government both directly (on public issues) and indirectly 
at elections. This Convention has been ratified by Parliament and so the 
new regulations could reasonably be introduced, at least for emergency 
use, by a government order (then no need to wait for H o L and Queen ;-))


Our campaign group Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB / 
www.iniref.org would be happy to advise MPs and other people or groups 
on how to proceed with the introduction of a more citizen-led democracy 
: We can refer to a panel of experts in design of modern democracy.


Regards,


Michael Macpherson (Dr.)
for
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
http://www.iniref.org/enter.html






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Neil Johnston (Paddington Development Trust) wrote:
>
> ......
>
>
> Click this link to sign the petition "EU Referendum Rules triggering a 
> 2nd EU Referendum"
>
> https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/19504271/verify/tXMzTQBCTo7Z9g2mKuN 
> <https://petition.parliament.uk/signatures/19504271/verify/tXMzTQBCTo7Z9g2mKuN>
>
> Thanks,
> The Petitions team
> UK Government and Parliament
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> *From:* INIREF <info at iniref.org>
> *Sent:* 24 June 2016 16:08:50
> *To:* press at iniref.org
> *Subject:* Ways to better democracy after UK "brexit" referendum
>
> Statement by Campaign for direct democracy in Britain 
> <http://www.iniref.org>
>
> After the Brexit result many are now asking, should we have more 
> referenda or do they do more harm than good? This invites the 
> question, can we improve the quality of our democracy and the ways in 
> which we conduct our public affairs?
>
> Our democracy is way out of date and badly designed so that elected 
> politicians often fail to represent the majority of us.
>
> In recent years Government and Parliament have carried out ballots, 
> referenda about: Scottish independence; the House of Commons electoral 
> system (alternative vote); the European Union. As ruling politicians 
> see it, with these ballots they were asking the people for their 
> opinion about an important public issue. The results of these votes 
> are *not* legally binding but are only advisory and may be ignored by 
> the government of the day. This is weak democracy of poor quality.
>
> In our opinion our state needs more and better democracy, not less. 
> The right to initiate a referendum should belong to the people (acting 
> through the electorate) and not lie only, as now in effect, with the 
> government.
>
> What is meant by "more and better democracy"?
>
> For instance,  a large number of voters should be able to start a veto 
> referendum of government policy or make a formal proposal for 
> electoral decision (ballot) on new law. See more detail at 
> http://www.iniref.org
>
> Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
> Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
> http://www.iniref.org/enter.html


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