Stephen Gosling
There is no single, sensible explainer on the British constitution. Many people will assert that it’s “unwritten” but even that’s no longer entirely true. What is true though is that it has three absolutely fundamental flaws, and they’re really worth your attention: -
Where it is written and isn’t ambiguous the UK’s constitution rarely carries any consequence. The “laws” governing how we are governed are bizarrely the only laws where the only consequence for breaking them is only that you might get away with it.
Being so vague and incoherent means the way we’re governed is really difficult to explain. It is on the curriculum of some of the more expensive independent schools but it’s not mandated for all of us. As a direct consequence the proportion of the electorate that understand how they’re governed is tiny, and most of those will be from an exclusive cohort. It’s as if the rules have deliberately been hidden and this is emphatically not the case for other citizenries.
Almost uniquely among peer nations the UK electorate has never authorised how it is governed. The Welsh got to agree to the part of the constitution that governs devolution but nothing else and then that devolution settlement was amended without a mandate. What possible mandate could there be for the Lords? Can any British government ever really claim a “mandate”, however grand their majority, when the system itself hasn’t obtained popular legitimacy, even historically?
These may sound at first glance like academic issues, but they’re not. British companies must adhere to rules of governance to minimise exploitation of workers and customers but their government need not. A British citizen who steals a car will rightly go to jail, a British Prime Minister who steals a power from Parliament gets no such consequence. A British board room is obligated to act collaboratively to achieve the best results for shareholders or members while a British government will sack any minister who dares to disagree.
That’s why I’m involved in Unlock Democracy. We desperately need a better system, and that’s why I’m here.
My background is in small business, working from 1982 to 2020 in aircraft parts, firstly as a storeman, then as a salesman, then as a Sales Director and latterly as CEO. I built, trained and was part of the team that grew that firm from £1m turnover to £30m.
Upon selling up in 2020 I dedicated myself to trying to improve the country and to that end I’m involved here, at the LibDems and other similarly aligned organisations.