Saturday, 8 September 2012

An Exciting Development for Independent Minded Politicians

Recently the Independent newspaper has launched a campaign called democracy 2015

click here Democracy2015

Andreas Whittam-Smith, the founding Editor of the Independent has summed up the concern of many with the professionalisation of party politics and is seeking to get a significant number of independent MPs elected at the next general election.

I am not sure about becoming a Westminster MP but the idea of joining the London Assembly or Borough is perhaps another thing.

I basically agree with what the aims of the campaign but it should be widened to include local democracy. One of the big problems with government is the reduction in grass roots involvement. Local Authorities have seen their powers undermined over many years and this is in part aided by the very low turnout at local government elections. Were there more independent minded candidates with a real connection to their ward, it would be more likely that participation in local affairs could be improved.

Of course, plans for standing for this may be severly curtailed by our other big project as outlined here

We shall see but I will be contacting the Democracy2015 team.

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