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In today’s Independent, Matthew Norman wrote an article calling for us to seize the moment to demand a written constitution, I sometimes wonder where the Sam Hill we get these people from:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/matthew-norman/matthew-norman-we-must-seize-the-moment-to-demand-a-written-constitution-1684493.html

No, this is not a golden moment to have a written constitution and neither is any other moment in time going forward, the very last thing this country needs is yet another device to impede change as it is required and on a consensual basis.

We Do Need Change

Yes, change is needed but not by introducing a single document which might have worked in centuries past when the English population was of one ethnic mix. And no that is not a racialist comment, it is a statement of fact. Given the very diverse ethnic mix of the people who inhabit the British Isles, trying to write a single document that encompasses the wishes and aspirations of all, would be a nightmare as the original EU Constitution document demonstrated in all its meaningless glory – all it lacked was Eric Cantona and seagulls… When it came to the Lisbon Treaty, all they did was take the original document and jumble it up, it was just as meaningless.

Besides which written constitutions as the Russian one during Stalin’s reign demonstrated, are meaningless and protect nothing, only people holding common values which they would die to protect, can give shape and any allegiance to the rule of law and the regulation of the relationship between citizen and state as expressed in such a document. There is not a single cause in Britain today unless it was the very existence of the Country as in 1939, that you could get more than 20% of the electorate to agree they would lay their lives down for, a Bill of Rights is as close as you will ever get in the United Kingdom.

We Demand from Our Rulers…

Because of the current furore over MPs expenses, this journalist thinks that it is a good time for us to push “Our Rulers” for a written constitution, balls. The only reason we are getting any reaction from the House of Commons is because they are afraid of the electorate because they know we can and in many cases will, vote them out of a job at the earliest possible opportunity. Oddly, it is this very fear that has got MPs in this pickle by them not sorting out their pay properly in the first place.

Having a written constitution would not have prevented the current hullabaloo. That we need to realign our constitutional arrangements from time to time is true and that is better done without the limitations imposed by a written constitution as in the US with the “…Amendment to…”

We Need Some Changes

Our most pressing need is to examine afresh the Separation of Powers because the current situation where the Executive (PM), sits inside the House with his supporters on the Government benches is akin to in the days of Charles Ist, to the King and his Court sitting inside the Commons. The consequence today is that effectively we live in an elected dictatorship of up to 5 years duration as long as the Government has a majority.

We need to try and separate the Executive – PM plus Cabinet from the rest of the House which is the Legislature and meant to carefully scrutinize all Bills bought before it on our behalf, But as in that farce called the Debate on the Lisbon Treaty, nothing was debated. Brown had a majority and rail-roaded it through. He the Executive had decided and no debate was allowed let alone a referendum on the matter.

No before you say “Ah that is why we need a written constitution…” Wrong ! This situation has been there for hundreds of years when only the relatively wealthy could afford to be an MP and although they belonged to political parties, the majority of MPs were more independently minded.

The constitutional situation hasn’t changed, it is the people who have who are all career professional politicians who in furtherance of their job ambitions, will do as they are told by the Party Whips before the best interests of the Nation and their constituents who elected them. NO WRITTEN DOCUMENT WILL CURE THAT DISEASE will it ?