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<title>Power Inquiry</title>

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<span id="openzim-page-title" class="mw-page-title-main"><span class="mw-page-title-main">Power Inquiry</span></span>

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<p>The <b>POWER Inquiry</b> was established in 2004 to explore how political participation and involvement can be increased and deepened in <a href="UK" class="mw-redirect" title="UK">Britain</a>. Its work is based on the primary belief that a healthy democracy requires the active participation of its citizens.

</p><p>Since the historically unprecedented decline in turnout in the <a href="2001_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2001 United Kingdom general election">2001 General Election</a>, many political organisations have put considerable effort into analysing the roots of voter abstention and the current state of political engagement in the UK. This widely shared concern over declining electoral turnout served as the starting point for a broader investigation into the health of the connections between the public and the political process.

</p><p>On 27 February 2006, the Power Commission published <i>Power to the People</i>, its final report, making 30 key recommendations designed to "save British democracy from meltdown".

</p><p>The recommendations included <a href="Decentralization" title="Decentralization">decentralising</a> power, from <a href="Central_government" title="Central government">central government</a> to <a href="Local_government" title="Local government">local government</a>, replacing the <a href="First-past-the-post" class="mw-redirect" title="First-past-the-post">first-past-the-post</a> electoral system with a more responsive one, <a href="Votes_at_16" title="Votes at 16">reducing the voting age to 16</a>, and giving citizens <a href="Direct_democracy" title="Direct democracy">the right to initiate</a> <a href="Legislation" title="Legislation">legislative processes</a>.

</p><p>"<a href="Power_2010" title="Power 2010">Power 2010</a>" is an attempt to carry forward the concepts behind the Power Inquiry into the <a href="2010_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2010 United Kingdom general election">UK 2010 General Election</a>.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Funding_and_organisation">Funding and organisation</h2></div>

<p>The Inquiry was promoted as politically neutral, and its steering group, the Commission, included the "great and good" from across the political spectrum. The composition of the Commission also sought to represent directly those not conventionally involved in a project of this type.

</p><p><b>The Commissioners</b>

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<ul><li><a href="Helena_Kennedy%2C_Baroness_Kennedy_of_The_Shaws" title="Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of The Shaws">Helena Kennedy, Baroness Kennedy of the Shaws</a>, QC - Chair</li>

<li><a href="Ferdinand_Mount" title="Ferdinand Mount">Ferdinand Mount</a></li>

<li><a href="Paul_Boakye" title="Paul Boakye">Paul Boakye</a></li>

<li>Phil Carey (UK)</li>

<li><a href="Philip_Dodd_(broadcaster)" title="Philip Dodd (broadcaster)">Philip Dodd</a></li>

<li><a href="Ben_Freeman" title="Ben Freeman">Ben Freeman</a></li>

<li>Barbara Gill</li>

<li>Bano Murtuja</li>

<li><a href="Frances_O'Grady" class="mw-redirect" title="Frances O'Grady">Frances O'Grady</a></li></ul>

<p>POWER was funded and was established by the <a href="Joseph_Rowntree_Charitable_Trust" title="Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust">Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust</a> and the <a href="Joseph_Rowntree_Reform_Trust" class="mw-redirect" title="Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust">Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust</a> Limited, to mark their centenary year.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Key_recommendations">Key recommendations</h2></div>

<ul><li>Donations on <a href="Political_parties" class="mw-redirect" title="Political parties">political parties</a> to be capped at £10,000 from individuals and £100 per member of organisations, "subject to full democratic scrutiny within the organisation"</li>

<li>A "voter vouchers" system, where individuals indicate if they wish to allocate £3 of state funding to a particular party</li>

<li>Voters given the chance to put forward laws</li>

<li>The <a href="Voting_age" title="Voting age">voting age</a>, and the minimum age at which people can stand for Parliament, to be reduced to 16</li>

<li>A 70%-elected <a href="House_of_Lords" title="House of Lords">House of Lords</a></li>

<li>Monthly logs to monitor ministerial contact with companies, <a href="Lobbyists" class="mw-redirect" title="Lobbyists">lobbyists</a> and <a href="Advocacy_groups" class="mw-redirect" title="Advocacy groups">Advocacy groups</a></li>

<li>Restrictions on the powers of <a href="Chief_Whip" title="Chief Whip">party whips</a></li>

<li>The replacement of <a href="First-past-the-post_voting" title="First-past-the-post voting">First-Past-The-Post</a> with a "responsive electoral system - which offers voters a greater choice and diversity of parties and candidates" for all elections to the House of Commons, House of Lords and local councils.

<ul><li>"The <a href="Closed_list" title="Closed list">closed party list</a> system should have no place in modern elections."</li></ul></li>

<li>The election <a href="Deposit_(politics)" class="mw-redirect" title="Deposit (politics)">deposits system</a> (currently £500) should be dropped in favour of requiring candidates to provide a certain number of signatures in order to stand in elections.</li>

<li>"The realignment of constituency boundaries should be accelerated."</li>

<li><a href="Decentralization" title="Decentralization">Decentralising</a> of powers to local government<sup id="cite_ref-1" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-1"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>1<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup></li></ul>

<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Reaction">Reaction</h2></div>

<p><i><a href="The_Independent" title="The Independent">The Independent</a></i> newspaper covered the story with a front page splash titled <i>Blueprint to give power to the people</i>. The paper has been "campaigning for democracy" ever since the <a href="2005_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2005 United Kingdom general election">2005 General Election</a>, in which the <a href="Labour_Party_(UK)" title="Labour Party (UK)">Labour Party</a> won 55.2% of the seats with just 35.3% of the votes. The newspaper ran a petition urging the <a href="Tony_Blair" title="Tony Blair">Prime Minister</a> to institute urgent reform of the voting system.

</p><p>Helena Kennedy, Chair of the Inquiry, challenged politicians to, "rise above their party ranks and start treating democratic reform as a non-partisan necessity, not a political toy".

</p><p>The Prime Minister's Official Spokesman said that the report dealt with many issues, which were all matters to be debated within parties and between parties, adding that the report had added to the debate.

</p><p><a href="Oliver_Heald" title="Oliver Heald">Oliver Heald</a>, Shadow Constitutional Affairs secretary for the <a href="Conservative_Party_(UK)" title="Conservative Party (UK)">Conservative Party</a>, welcomed the call to give more power to MPs, but opposed the plan to drop the voting age to 16. The Acting President of the <a href="Liberal_Democrats_(UK)" title="Liberal Democrats (UK)">Liberal Democrats</a>, <a href="Simon_Hughes" title="Simon Hughes">Simon Hughes</a>, welcomed the report, saying "British democracy is in crisis whatever the Government pretends - most voters are ignored and most people feel they have no influence".

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Conference">Conference</h2></div>

<p>On 6 May 2006, the Inquiry concluded with a free conference held at the <a href="Queen_Elizabeth_II_Conference_Centre" class="mw-redirect" title="Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre">Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre</a> in <a href="London" title="London">London</a>. Speakers included Power Commissioners, the Leader of the Conservative party <a href="David_Cameron" title="David Cameron">David Cameron</a> and the Leader of the Liberal Democrats <a href="Sir_Menzies_Campbell" class="mw-redirect" title="Sir Menzies Campbell">Sir Menzies Campbell</a>. The plenary sitting split into eight 'breakout' sessions where particular aspects of the Commission's recommendations were discussed. These sessions, and the organisations sponsoring them, were:

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<ul><li>Politics, Citizenship & Young People (Carnegie Young People Initiative)</li>

<li>Direct Democracy: Ideas for Citizen Power (<a href="Charter_88" title="Charter 88">Charter 88</a>)</li>

<li>Reviving Political Parties for Democracy (<a href="Demos_(UK_think_tank)" title="Demos (UK think tank)">Demos</a>)</li>

<li>Parliament: Fit for (What) Purpose? (<a href="Hansard_Society" title="Hansard Society">Hansard Society</a>)</li>

<li>Citizens and the State: A Marriage of Inconvenience? (Involve)</li>

<li>The Future of Local and Neighbourhood Government (<a href="Local_Government_Information_Unit" title="Local Government Information Unit">Local Government Information Unit</a>)</li>

<li>Clean Politics: Fair Votes (<a href="New_Politics_Network" title="New Politics Network">New Politics Network</a>)</li>

<li>Global Power - Is Parliament Relevant? (<a href="One_World_Trust" title="One World Trust">One World Trust</a>)</li></ul>

<p>The conference finished with a <a href="Question_Time_(TV_series)" class="mw-redirect" title="Question Time (TV series)">Question Time</a> debate on <i>Prospects for Democratic Change</i>, chaired by Helena Kennedy with the following panellists:

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<ul><li><a href="Nicholas_Boles" class="mw-redirect" title="Nicholas Boles">Nicholas Boles</a> (Director, the <a href="Policy_Exchange" title="Policy Exchange">Policy Exchange</a>)</li>

<li><a href="Saira_Khan" title="Saira Khan">Saira Khan</a> (Businesswoman, TV presenter, author, runner-up on the first series of <a href="The_Apprentice_(UK_TV_series)" class="mw-redirect" title="The Apprentice (UK TV series)">The Apprentice</a>)</li>

<li><a href="Ed_Miliband" title="Ed Miliband">Ed Miliband</a> (Labour MP, former advisor to <a href="Gordon_Brown" title="Gordon Brown">Gordon Brown</a> and newly appointed <a href="Cabinet_Office" title="Cabinet Office">Parliamentary Secretary to the Cabinet Office</a>)</li>

<li><a href="Peter_Tatchell" title="Peter Tatchell">Peter Tatchell</a> (<a href="Human_rights" title="Human rights">Human rights</a> campaigner)</li></ul>

<p>During the conference, David Cameron gave his support to a <a href="Elect_the_Lords" class="mw-redirect" title="Elect the Lords">majority-elected House of Lords</a> for the first time, saying, "In my view the Lords must have a significant elected element if it is to play a full and proper role".<sup id="cite_ref-2" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-2"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>2<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup> He also made strong comments on the future of the <a href="Royal_Prerogative" class="mw-redirect" title="Royal Prerogative">Royal Prerogative</a>, saying "It's time to look at the power of the Executive to ride roughshod over the Legislature".<sup id="cite_ref-3" class="reference"><a href="#cite_note-3"><span class="cite-bracket">[</span>3<span class="cite-bracket">]</span></a></sup>

</p><p>Many questions were asked of all the speakers by those attending the conference, and a lively debate took place over issues such as <a href="Proportional_representation" title="Proportional representation">proportional representation</a> for general elections and <a href="Direct_democracy" title="Direct democracy">direct democracy</a> initiatives such as <a href="Referendum" title="Referendum">referendums</a>.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="Power_2010">Power 2010</h2></div>

<p>"<a href="Power_2010" title="Power 2010">Power 2010</a>" is an attempt to carry forward the concepts behind the Power Inquiry into the <a href="2010_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2010 United Kingdom general election">UK 2010 General Election</a>.

</p><p>Five key constitutional reforms have been identified in a nationwide poll - introduce proportional representation, abolish ID cards, replace the Lords with an elected chamber, allow only English MPs to vote on English laws, and draw up a written constitution.

</p><p>Power 2010 is attempting to get voters and candidates in the <a href="2010_United_Kingdom_general_election" title="2010 United Kingdom general election">UK 2010 General Election</a> to endorse these reforms by signing a personal pledge.

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="References">References</h2></div>

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</style><cite id="CITEREFBrian_Wheeler2009" class="citation web cs1">Brian Wheeler (2009-05-21). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/8060896.stm">"Time for a Westminster revolution?"</a>. <a href="BBC_News" title="BBC News">BBC News</a><span class="reference-accessdate">. Retrieved <span class="nowrap">2009-05-22</span></span>.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-2"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-2">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite class="citation news cs1"><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20070313094053/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/07/nlords07.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/07/ixhome.html">"News"</a>. <i>The Telegraph</i>. 15 March 2016. Archived from <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/05/07/nlords07.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/07/ixhome.html">the original</a> on 13 March 2007.</cite></span>

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<li id="cite_note-3"><span class="mw-cite-backlink"><b><a href="#cite_ref-3">^</a></b></span> <span class="reference-text"><cite id="CITEREFTemko2006" class="citation news cs1">Temko, Ned (7 May 2006). <a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://politics.guardian.co.uk/iraq/story/0,,1769415,00.html">"Cameron: 'Make me PM and I'll let parliament decide on going to war'"</a>. <i>The Observer</i>.</cite></span>

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<div class="mw-heading mw-heading2"><h2 id="External_links">External links</h2></div>

<ul><li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://www.power2010.org.uk">Power 2010 website</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://web.archive.org/web/20110825064421/http://www.powerinquiry.org:80/">Power Inquiry website on Internet Archive</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/4753876.stm">BBC - 'Political system faces meltdown'</a></li>

<li><a rel="nofollow" class="external text" href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/today/listenagain/ram/today3_power_20060227.ram">Listen to Helena Kennedy discuss the Inquiry</a></li></ul></div><div><div class="zim-footer">

This article is issued from <a class="external text" title="Last edited on 2025-04-02" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/?title=Power_Inquiry&oldid=1283547394">Wikipedia</a>. The text is available under <a class="external text" href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/deed.en">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0</a> unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

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