Synopsis: |
"The Governance of Britain (Cm. 7170)" presents the Government's proposals for constitutional renewal. The four main themes are: limiting the power of the executive; making the executive more accountable; reinvigorating democracy; and the relationship between the citizen and the state. The Government will surrender or limit powers that should not be exercised exclusively by the executive.Powers to be surrendered or limited include: deploying troops abroad; dissolution and recall of Parliament; ratifying international treaties without decision by Parliament; determining the rules governing entitlement to passports; restricting parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services; choosing bishops; having a say in appointment of judges; and establishing the rules governing the Civil Service.There will also be increased Parliamentary scrutiny of some public appointments and a review of the role of the Attorney General to ensure the office retains public confidence.Proposals to make the executive more accountable include: publishing a National Security Strategy; introducing a pre-Queen's Speech consultative process on the legislative programme; simplifying the reporting of Government expenditure; annual Parliamentary debates on the objectives and plans of government departments; and limiting pre-release of official statistics to ministers to 24 hours before publication.For democratic reform, the Government will: develop a substantially or wholly elected House of Lords; better enable local people to hold service providers to account; place a duty on public bodies to involve local people in major decisions; assess merits of giving local communities the ability to apply for devolved or delegated budgets; consult on moving election days to the weekend; complete and publish a review of voting systems; and review the provisions that govern the right to protest near Parliament.A consultation to develop a British statement of values together with a review of British citizenship, a Youth Citizenship Commission to look at citizenship education and reducing the voting age, and the consideration of a Bill of Rights and Duties, complete the proposals. |