Does This Idea Have Legs?

It is just over a month since the Convention for Modern Liberty took place at seven centres across the UK, and it has generated a lot of debate mainly in the blogosphere, but now the initial euphoria is beginning to settle down the question to be answered is ‘what next?’

Anthony Barnett, one of the conveners of that Convention, has come up with an idea for what he calls a Great Repeal Bill and justifies it as follows:

“The idea of a repeal bill is developed (OK, stolen) from the Liberal Democrat Freedom Bill but would be different in: a) language, b) the way it is written, and c) by not being presented as a piece of all-or-nothing politics. Neither individuals nor organisations would have to endorse all of it to engage with politicians and public in a wide educational campaign that asks for discriminating responses.
The aim is to create a talking point that links the issues, deepens Conservative commitments, seeks a Labour U-turn and ensures that the positive arguments are not confined to the Lib Dems and Greens.

We should draw it up in an open way. For example, we could ask the UCL Student Human Right network to write a draft. We put this on the web and get input. You only get good participation on the web if people know what will happen to it.

One suggestion is that we create in advance a ‘jury’ combining well-known and representative figures to assess all the suggestions and decide the version that is taken to the country by June. (People can always propose their additions after that).

At the same time we see how many people round the country want to volunteer to create temporary groups or networks and how they want to engage people - through local media, the web, town meetings, pub discussions. Maybe it should also be reinforced by a celebrity battlebus!”

The full text of Barnett’s proposal and the interesting debate it has sparked can be followed on Liberal Conspiracy.

Now I am not sure whether to herald this as a new, non-party political approach to participative democracy and therefore something to be welcomed or the further disenfranchisement of those who have neither the inclination nor the means to engage with a debate such as this because it predominantly web-based. We must remember that many people, especially older people, who might have much to contribute to a debate of this sort remain steadfastly disengaged from the world of computers and the wonders of the web, and this includes a number of active politicians on local councils.