Citizens to be given a say in devolution agenda

Statement from the Democracy Matters project
For immediate release, Wednesday 14th October 13.30
For more details visit www.citizensassembly.co.uk

  • Major democratic experiment to find out where citizens in Sheffield and Southampton think power should lie at the local level
    Citizens’ Assemblies launched as Government pushes through devolution legislation and continues to broker deals with city regions
  • Citizens in two English regions are experimenting with a new way of doing politics, in response to the sweeping constitutional changes currently facing the UK.

Two ‘Citizens’ Assemblies’ – four-day events in Southampton and Sheffield taking place in October and November [1] – will bring representative samples of the local population together to discuss and decide on the future of local democracy. The first Assembly kicks off this weekend (see details below and get in touch for accreditation).

This exciting democratic project is taking place against the backdrop of the Government’s commitment to devolving powers to the local level. For the first time, citizens in English regions will be given the chance to deliberate on the question of where power should lie. This comes on the day that the Government’s Cities and Local Government Devolution Bill receives its second reading in the House of Commons.

The Citizens’ Assemblies are being conducted by Democracy Matters [2], a group of leading academics and the Electoral Reform Society, in a project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council [3]. They are pilot projects for the sort of deliberative event envisaged by those calling for a UK-wide Constitutional Convention.

Katie Ghose, Chief Executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said:

“Over the next few weeks, citizens in Sheffield and Southampton will get the chance to discuss the democratic future of their local areas. It’s an exciting new way of doing politics with people at its heart. A year on from the Scottish referendum, it’s more vital than ever that the public – particularly in England – have a say on where power should lie in Britain.

“As the Government seeks to devolve powers towards local areas, they need to include citizens and not simply deliver their chosen solutions from above. These Assemblies are a real chance to shape the devolution agenda so that it genuinely involves the people which it affects.”

Professor Matthew Flinders, Principal Investigator for the project, said:

“This is a huge opportunity to feed the views of the public into the policy-making process and to explore the potential of new democratic methods to reinvigorate British politics.”

Professor Will Jennings, Co-Investigator for the project, said:

“The recent proposals to devolve more powers to local government represent an exciting moment in shaping how Hampshire and the Isle of Wight are governed. The views of local people have not yet been part of the dialogue between central government and the regions. These assemblies provide an opportunity for citizens to put forward their ideas on how local services and powers might be structured in future. For proposals to be successful, they need wider public support and legitimacy.”

Detail of the Citizens’ Assemblies

The two pilot assemblies allow testing of two models: the pure citizens’ assembly and the mixed assembly comprising a majority of ordinary citizens and a minority of politicians. Each assembly will have 45 members. One will be held in Sheffield with membership drawn from across South Yorkshire; all participants will be members of the public. The other will be held in Southampton with members from across Hampshire; 30 participants will be members of the public and 15 will be local politicians.

Composition
Members of the public have been chosen via stratified random sampling conducted by YouGov. The samples are broadly representative of the populations of UK citizens in the respective regions in terms of gender, age, ethnicity, and education. Politician members of the Southampton assembly have been invited in proportion to their vote shares.

The Sheffield Assembly (Assembly North) will be chaired by Len Tingle, BBC Yorkshire Political Editor. The Southampton Assembly (Assembly South) will be chaired by Peter Henley, BBC South Political Editor.

Schedule
The work of each assembly will be based around four phases: learning; consultation; deliberation; and decision.

Each assembly will use a mix of plenary and small-group formats at every stage in order to facilitate inclusive deliberation. The work of each group will be aided by a trained facilitator and a note-taker.

Further notes

1. The dates of the Citizen’s Assemblies are as follows:

Assembly North?50 Arundel Gate, Sheffield

17th/18th October and 7th/8th November

Assembly South?Jurys Inn, Charlotte Place and Macdonald Botley Park Hotel, Southampton

24th/25th October and 14th/15th November

2. The Democracy Matters project comprises the Electoral Reform Society together with academics from the University of Sheffield, the University of Southampton, the University of London and the University of Westminster. The project is fully funded by the Economic and Social Research Council.

Read the biographies of the project team here: www.citizensassembly.co.uk/home-page/about/project-team/
3. The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is the UK’s largest funder of research on the social and economic questions facing us today. It supports the development and training of the UK’s future social scientists and also funds major studies that provide the infrastructure for research. ESRC-funded research informs policymakers and practitioners and helps make businesses, voluntary bodies and other organisations more effective. The ESRC also works collaboratively with six other UK research councils and Innovate UK to fund cross-disciplinary research and innovation addressing major societal challenges. The ESRC is an independent organisation, established by Royal Charter in 1965, and funded mainly by the Government. In 2015 it celebrates its 50th anniversary.

For more information visit http://citizensassembly.co.uk/ or contact Will Brett (07979 696 265 / [email protected])

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