A group of high-profile Labor politicians have joined forces to campaign for “urgent” reform of UK democracy.
Former prime minister Gordon BrownWelsh First Minister Mark Drakeford and Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham are among those who have joined the Alliance for Radical Democratic Change.
They will launch the push at an event in Edinburgh this evening, alongside West Yorkshire Mayor Tracy Brabin and Scottish Labor leader Anas Sarwar. – where they will ask political leaders from other parties to support their cause.
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It comes six months after a report published by Mr. Brown on the future of the United Kingdom recommended the abolition of the House of Lords and a deeper delegation to the cities and regions.
In a joint mission statement, the group said: “There is a demand for change across the UK.
“We recognize the urgent need to work together – locally, regionally and nationally across the UK – to reform our constitution so that we can tackle the current economic and social challenges facing all areas of our country.
“To that end, we are setting up the Alliance for Radical Democratic Change to implement broad proposals for UK reform.”
Reforms the group wants to see include:
End the centralization of power in Whitehall and Westminster. Transfer effective economic and social powers to regions and nations. Make cities and regions initiative centers for full employment and good jobs. Ensure coordination between all levels of government to “achieve a fairer and greener environment”. and the richest Britain”
Speaking ahead of the event, Drakeford said: “We need a new, strengthened union that ensures no one finds themselves unable to eat or rely on a food bank; facing old age or illness on the sidelines of society
“A union that delivers a strong return for all parts of the UK; a union where all four nations are treated as equals.”
Burnham said: “Like Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the north of England has suffered from an over-concentration of political and economic power in the south-east of the UK.
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Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester. File image: Reuters
“This is changing with the devolution of power out of Westminster, but in our experience it works best when it collapses.
“Places in all parts of the UK should have the ability to build a better future from the bottom up and to work with neighbours.”
Writing earlier this week in the Scotsman, Mr Brown added: “We must begin the great reform of Britain so that the way we govern ourselves is more democratic, less corrupt and more responsive to the wishes of the people of our diverse nation.
“We desperately need new modern institutions, which reflect the values we hold, which ensure that power is shared across Britain, not from the top. We need Westminster and Whitehall to show more respect for people who, as polls show , they feel ‘neglected’, ‘forgotten’, ‘ignored’ and patronized as second-class citizens.
“A new alliance of people from Scotland, England and Wales demanding change shows we are getting closer, not further.”
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The event was organized by Mr. Brown and the group will be launched jointly with their think tank Our Scottish Future.
It comes as Scotland’s independence minister has urged Brown to apologize to the people of Scotland, saying promises he made alongside then-prime minister David Cameron and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg before the referendum in 2014 have not been met.
In a statement issued ahead of the Edinburgh rally, Jamie Hepburn said Brown had “made promises that would have made even snake oil salesmen blush”.
He said Mr Brown “couldn’t have been clearer than if the people of Scotland voted against independence, in his own words, that ‘we will be, in a year or two, so close to ‘a federal state as you can”. .”
The SNP MSP said that since the independence vote in 2014, Scotland has been “dragged out of the EU against our will” and has seen the powers of the Scottish Parliament come under “attack like never before”. .
