Tag: Martin Smith
The demise of the Parliament’s Political and Constitutional Reform Comittee: executive power is again predominant
Just how strong is the Conservatives mandate? With only 24.7% of eligible voters opting to support them, perhaps not as strong as their majority might suggest. One of their first moves has been to abolish the House of Commons Political and Constitutional Reform Committee, a key organ of democracy in the struggle to improve British […]
How to address the pathologies of the British political tradition in an age of disengagement and distrust
There is undoubtedly a major issue of political disengagement between voters and Westminster’s system of government. However, the Westminster political class appears to regard the solution to the current maladies as finding ways to reinforce the existing system, rather than embracing the need to re-think the current nature of politics. It is clear that many of […]
A renewed democracy must stop infantalising citizens and instead make them privy to the policy-making process
In a digital age, the closed world of institutions is no longer viable. To rebuild trust and re-engage citizens, technology can be used to change the way decisions are made, how citizens are involved and how institutions are held to account, argue Dave Richards and Martin J. Smith Similar PostsCriticisms of the Westminster model of politics […]
The Universal Credit fiasco shows that we need a new model of Ministerial accountability
The Government’s Universal Credit scheme looks to be unravelling, with the Public Accounts Committee recently levelling a series of withering criticisms at the Department for Work and Pensions. Dave Richards and Martin Smith argue that the Secretary of State’s decision to pin the blame for these failures on his departmental officials marks the culmination of a long term blurring […]
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