Reinventing Democracy: Improving British political governance

90% of electors want political reform. But how to escape the mess? Britain should adopt a federal structure with a written constitution and an elected apolitical People's Council replacing autocratic and ineffective bodies.

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The United Kingdom needs fundamental change

Already we see that Labour are not thinking strategically about the causes of British decline. Tackling symptoms without the root causes is unlikely to be effective.

Britain faces major challenges:

• The climate crisis
• An over-centralised State that cannot cope with the complexity of the twenty-first century
• A tax base that favours oligarchs at the expense of the people
• Determination to carry on the way things have always been done - "Nothing changes"
• Putting right the continuing damage done by a hard Brexit

This book offers one possible solution. It's meant to move the country's thinking forward. The book calls for major reforms like implementing federalism, creating a written constitution, establishing a People's Council, and redefining the monarchy's role. It investigates the failures within the system, poor policy decisions, and the negative impacts of neo-liberal policies, proposing solutions to improve democracy, economic performance, and international status.

Only the people can bring about change. This book is a starting-point for discussion.

Read the book now if you would like UK society and governance improved.

Ignore the book if you are happy with everything the way it is.

There is much waiting for you to discover, including the first-draft written constitution of the UK.

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Other reviews

“A powerful, persuasive, and timely wake-up call for transforming the UK into a federal state. A must-read.” Richard Moriarty - The Sun

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Figure 1   Figure 2   Table 1   Table 3   Table 4   Table 5

Top of page

Table of contents

Preface

Summary of principal concepts

1  A country that has lost its way

Uncomfortable truths

Britain and Europe

What rights do you have?

What does the future hold?

2  Major UK policy failures

The seven major mistakes

The cumulative effect of policy failures

Measures of living standards

Privatisation

The UK retail energy market

Water

Rail

3  The case for constitutional change

What makes a society successful?

The dead end of political evolution

The road to British serfdom

Other failures

Closing ranks against the truth

The democratic deficit

Federal systems of governance

Direct democracy

      Broader economic issues

Overseas territories

Linking the issues

4  Outline of a solution

Learning from the gross mistake

Sovereignty

Compete, compromise, cooperate, consult

The numerical dominance of England

Central or local? Who pays the piper?

International agreements

Artificial intelligence and the tech industries

What else?

5  The People’s Council

Functions of the People’s Council

Organisations forming the British state

Truthfulness

Requests for referendums

Listening to the people

Assent to legislation

Ombudspersons

The facts hub

Referrals to the Constitutional Court

Legislative mandates and venues

      The People's Assent

Choosing and refreshing the People’s Council

      1 The regulated group

      2 The general group

      3 The sortition group

      Leadership, building expertise, team work

6  The new governments

Levels of governance and oversight

      United Kingdom responsibilities

      England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland, and Overseas territories

      Regions

The need for change

Revenue and borrowing

      United Kingdom government revenue

      Revenues of England, Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland

      Revenue sources for the regions

      Government borrowing

      User fees

      Wealth taxes

Pensions, health care costs and social security

Other changes that are needed

7  How change could be achieved

      England

      Scotland and Wales

      Northern Ireland

Interpretation of preliminary results

Adopting the new constitution

Timeline

8  First draft constitution of the United Kingdom

Notes

The draft constitution

Overseas territories of the United Kingdom

Citizens

The state and the citizen

The law

Social objectives

Relations between the arms of government; financial equalisation; legal relations

Foreign affairs

Military, security, police, emergency services

Culture, education, religion, charters

Essential services and infrastructure

Government accounts; the national debt; taxation

Health care

Business, the economy, common regulation and standards

Pensions and benefits

Elections to parliaments and local authorities

Legislation

Ombudspersons

The People’s Council

Membership of the People’s Council

Honours

Entry into force

Changes to this Constitution

Further transitional provisions

The Constitutional Court

Appendix A: The Private Finance Initiative (PFI)

Appendix B: Rights

References

Index (Print edition only)

Reinventing Democracy: Improving British political governance by David Kauders

Print ISBN: 9781907230202

E-book: 9781907230226