Monday 6 August 2012 Monday 6 August 2012
The Harrogate Agenda – the provisional list
We demand that:
The only thing I can guarantee is that this will not please everyone, and there is a risk that the list as a whole will please no one. Hence, it is offered as a provisional list, and comments are welcome on the forum.
1. the people are sovereign: the sovereignty of the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland shall be recognised by the Crown and the governments of our nations, the people in their collective form comprising the ultimate authority of their nations and the source of all political power;
2. counties are building blocks: the fundamental building blocks of our democracy shall be the counties (or other local units as may be defined), which shall be constitutional bodies exercising under the control of their peoples all powers of legislation, taxation and administration not specifically granted by the people to national governments;
3. an elected prime minister: the prime minister shall be elected by popular vote; with the approval of parliament, he shall then appoint his own ministers to assist in the exercise of such powers as may be granted to him by the sovereign peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland; no prime minister or his ministers shall be members of parliament or any legislative assembly;
4. no laws, etc., without consent: no treaty, law or regulation shall take effect without the direct consent of the majority of the people, by positive vote if so demanded, and that no treaty, law or regulation shall continue in effect whence that consent is withdrawn by the majority of the people;
5. no taxes or spending without consent: no tax, charge or levy shall be imposed, nor any public spending authorised, nor any sum borrowed by any national or local government except with the express permission of the majority of the people, renewed annually on presentation of a properly authenticated budget which shall first have been approved by their respective legislatures;
6. a constitutional convention: Parliament shall undertake to convene a constitutional convention with a view to drawing up definitive constitutions for the peoples of England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, which shall, inter alia, recognise their sovereign status and their inherent rights.
I also welcome comments from other blogs, such as this and appreciate the time and effort that so many have put into the exercise. This does make it worthwhile.
For those who might be offended by omissions, or believe that something else should take the place of the points offered, I am completely open to suggestions. But I must ask of contributors whether any other points will get to the root of power and whether, when adopted, will significantly enhance our standing and bring us closer to democracy than the points offered.
Once again, therefore, I must thus reiterate that democracy is about power – people power. The task we set ourselves at Harrogate was to define six demands which would bring us closer to controlling our own destinies and governing for ourselves the great nations of which we are part.
With the focus on bringing power to the people, this offering is a start.
COMMENT THREAD
Richard North 06/08/2012 In for a long wait
While Moore is quick to review Hannan's latest "essay", neither of them reviewed The Great Deception, not that that stopped Hannan dunning Booker for the occasional free copy to give as prizes for constituency raffles and the like.
To be fair to Moore – although I don't intend to make a habit of it – he is not entirely complimentary about young Daniel's extrusions. This is perhaps just as well as it seems no more intellectually coherent than the infamous earlier book, The Plan.
Hannan's latest recipe, it seems, is the restoration of nationalism, thus bringing down the EU and reverting – presumably – to the pre-1950 scenario when everything was going so swimmingly for the UK.
Taking what would appear to be a broader sweep, however, Moore tells us that those of us who believe that the EU is misconceived at root must recognise that, without the EU, Europe will need some new international (not supranational) institutions to order its affairs and defend the weak.
He is not totally wrong there, in that there must be a means of ordering the myriad of international agreements and multilateral initiatives currently managed by the EU.
Unlike the fantasists who would have us repeal the ECA and then sit down to negotiate, Moore asserts that the downfall of the EU, in its present form, is deserved, but it is also, unless there is something to replace it, to be feared.
Where he goes wrong though, is in failing to recognise that those bodies already exist, be they the Council of Europe, EFTA (and the EEA), and even UNECE. There is no good reason why the EU should be replaced by a single body – and many good reasons why it should not. The existing bodies will suffice, with or without modification.
But detail has never been Moore's strong point. Typical of his breed, he soars loftily over "minor" matters, handing them down to "great minds like Daniel Hannan" who "need to start working out what that something might be".
The trouble is that Hannan, after all these years, has still not worked out what is going on – not least because he never bothered to read The Great Deception - so if Moore expects any guidance from the lad, he is going to be waiting a long, long time.
COMMENT THREAD
Richard North 06/08/2012
Monday, 6 August 2012
Good to see that Charlie Moore has written a "puff" for his mate and protegé Dan Hannan, demonstrating once again how the self-appointed élites stick together and look after each other.
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