So, What is The Harrogate Agenda?
If you are reading this, sat at home, in a coffee shop, or some other place that allows you to relax and discover new publications, perhaps in a country such as the UK, America, France, Germany, Canada or similar, consider this question:
Would you agree that you are living in a true democracy?
It's likely that many considering such a question would respond positively, after all that's what we're all told from the moment we are first able to understand such concepts.
Yet disappointingly most modern societies enjoy no such thing as true democracy. Instead we are governed by a system known as 'representative democracy'.
The word democracy stems from the Greek word, dēmokratía, comprising two parts: dêmos "people" and kratos "power". Without a demos, there is no democracy. But people without power is not democracy either.
In a true democracy, it is the people that must hold the power, not government.
The Harrogate Agenda is a framework seeking to provide a solution to the inadequacies of modern politics, made up of six limited, but achievable demands that if enacted will allow us to attend to the many problems and injustices that plague modern society, finally, we hope, making a better world for everyone, not just the few that currently hold the power of state.
Six Demands to Make a Better World for Everyone:
Recognition of our sovereignty: Parliament is the supreme legal authority in the UK, which means it can create or end any law and gives MPs the license to ignore the wishes of the people. The separation of powers and the end of parliamentary sovereignty (to be replaced by constitutional sovereignty) ensures once and for all, that any and all governments will be the servants of the people and never their master
Real local democracy: There is no point in getting excited over the election of local officials when almost the entire extent of their powers is determined by national law. The very idea that we have local democracy is a fiction. True local democracy will mean each district makes all the laws for matters exclusive to its own area, using powers defined by its own constitution, applicable within its own boundary.
Separation of powers: Parliament was established as a means of checking the monarch's power, back in the days when England was still governed by a king or queen. Following the English civil war in the mid 17th century, and the defeat (and execution) of King Charles I, Parliament effectively won the right to use those powers directly. In other words, our modern British parliament now has the power to make laws directly, with only self-governance as a means of scrutiny. Parliament should exist to hold the government to account, not as a means of self promotion as it does right now.
The people’s consent: Badly written and ill-conceived laws should not be allowed to sit unchallenged within the statute books of the UK. As things stand now, legislation, international agreements and treaties can be crafted solely by Parliament. The British people have no mechanism to ensure such legislation is created for their benefit, rather than that of promoting the Government's own agenda. The right to scrutinise enacted law, should reside solely with those it is meant to benefit in the first place - the people.
No taxation or spending without consent: Without people power, the politicians decide how much and where they are going to spend the billions of pounds government raises each year in taxation. Like it or not, under the current system there is nothing we can do to stop that. Government should be elected to represent the people that elected them. Not to allow MPs free-reign to throw other people's money down the drain on poorly conceived proposals.
A constitutional convention: Britain is one of only a handful of modern, industrial and technologically advanced countries that does not have a written constitution. Instead, we allow successive governments to further their own political agendas, with scant regard to the long term benefit of the people it has been elected to serve. To ensure Britain is never again forced to be the facilitator for one person's idealogical Nirvana, we must establish a written constitution
The Harrogate Agenda is not aligned to any political view. It is not a political party, merely a medium that seeks to enlighten the general public to the view that there is a better way. Please feel free to help us get the word out - just click the blue button below and help to get the word out »
