British citizens have faced great uncertainties in recent years, with a catalogue of chaos from the EU Referendum and Brexit to the Covid pandemic and cost of living crisis.
Sadly, two things that aren’t uncertain are the political scandals and accusations of gross mismanagement attached to these, and other nationwide issues.
If anything, they have become commonplace in the last few decades, as have sorry statistics about the UK’s worsening economic and social decline.
These days, prime ministers and their cabinet cronies often escape the consequences of their actions as the enshrined principle of ministerial responsibility has eroded to the point that those in power can act with ministerial irresponsibility.
With a General Election just around the corner, it may be tempting to imagine that the problem can be swept away with a change in administration.
Not so, according to a timely new book by David Kauders: Reinventing Democracy: Improving British political governance.
In it, he puts forward a well-reasoned and evidenced-based argument that the root cause of our national woes is the very fabric of our governmental system.
The ruling party may change, he says, but those at the top will still follow a policy agenda that is self-serving and short-sighted, driven by flawed ideologies, financial greed, numeric superiority, and a sense of entitled immunity.
He compares our current state to that of the 17th century, simply swapping the divine right of kings with the absolute power of Government.
We have little say in affairs, other than at the ballot box once every few years, while our representatives do as they will.
And with a de facto England-first agenda, this often comes especially at the cost of Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland, unhappy members of a union in name only.
Kauders, an investment manager and a person credited with predicting the 2007-8 mortgage-related credit crunch, argues for a political system that actually works for everyone rather than just the privileged few.
In Reinventing Democracy he sets out the case for a federal United Kingdom, decentralizing power to its constituent nations and regions to promote democracy and fair representation, swapping scandal for transparency and propaganda for progress.
Reassuringly, in this new era of cooperative rule, British citizens would still retain the right to travel and settle freely throughout the UK.
Under this federal system, the Houses of Parliament would be replaced with five individual parliaments, with one for each of the four nations and one for those functions (such as national defence) which are best provided by joint agreement and which reflects a fairer voting system to counterbalance the greater number of English representatives.
Kauders, a British citizen who has lived in Switzerland for twelve years, makes reference to thriving federal systems in place around the world, including his adopted home and Canada, making clear his point how it is entirely possible to run a country effectively and efficiently when power is dispersed.
To ensure the public play a full part in governmental process, he sees the unelected and undemocratic House of Lords and Privy Council being replaced with a largely elected, apolitical People’s Council.
The People’s Council he envisages would give citizens a voice with the right to place items on the political agenda and approve all legislation, ending the government’s ‘under-the-counter’ rubber stamping of legislation though the mechanism of Royal Assent.
He also proposes the introduction of a written constitution to formalize citizens’ rights and responsibilities, providing a clear framework for governance.
It is the first time that a book has set down a proposed constitution and it is a brilliant idea, replacing the uncertainties of interpretation and manipulation that come with our present unwritten constitution with clarity, stability, and firm safeguards against the abuse of power.
Transitioning to a federal system will require careful planning and time but the appetite is clearly there, with a recent poll finding that more than 90 percent of Brits want political reform.
It may take up to 17 years, says Kauders, to fully implement the changes but before that, such a transition must first be sanctioned.
This is, of course, unlikely to happen with either the Conservatives or Labour in charge, since they would be effectively dismantling their own power base, but the real point of Reinventing Democracy is to seed the idea in people’s minds that there is a viable alternative to the status quo and a pathway out of the political mire.
His call for change, and detailed and realistic representation of how this could look in practice, is inspiring and will, no doubt, help spark many a fruitful discussion between friends and colleagues.
Hopefully, it will reach the young generation of voters and encourage the next generation of parliamentary candidates to place the need for a federal UK on their manifestos, building momentum for a more participatory form of governance with the active involvement of citizens at its core.
Reinventing Democracy, then, is rallying cry for those who dare to believe in the possibility of a more just and equitable society.
It challenges us to imagine a future where political power is distributed more equitably and where our voices are actually heard; to redefine democracy for the needs of the 21st century; and to be agents of change in creating a more responsive, inclusive, and accountable Britain.
Reinventing Democracy: Improving British political governance by David Kauders (Sparkling Books) is available now for pre-order on Amazon in hardcover and eBook formats, and on Kobo in eBook format, priced £24.50 and 99p (UK only, rising to £4.99 after the 2024 General Election). The hardcover version will be available from all good bookstores and the eBook from all main eBook stores. David Kauders is also the author of The Greatest Crash: Avoiding the financial system limit , Understanding Brexit Options: What future for Britain? and The Financial System Limit: Britain’s real debt burden. For more information, visit www.sparklingbooks.com.
Here we present an exclusive extract from Reinventing Democracy by David Kauders and published through Sparkling Books. Kauders’ call for a bold revitalisation of democracy through federalisation – a system that he argues with persuasion will truly empower the people – is timely and essential reading, making this book a valuable contribution to the discourse on political reform.
On a scale of 100% democracy to 100% autocracy, Britain must rank as one of the least democratic countries, an autocratic country excepting an occasional change in the ruling elite.
The key element of British democracy is that two parties compete for absolute power: two autocrats take turns at imposing their world view. The first-past-the-post electoral system prevents other parties from competing, which would surely be a breach of competition law if that law applied to politics as regards monopolies and duopolies. Differences compared to North Korea are a matter of degree (isolation, falling living standards, dislike of foreigners, loss of rights, and restricted travel are common to both countries) although North Korea is many decades behind the UK in terms of living standards.
The reason Britain is so undemocratic is that the supposedly flexible unwritten British constitution slowly removes power from the people and hands it to the elite. Governments with control of the Commons can pass any legislation they like. When they legislate to fix a constitutional problem only two situations can result:
1. The fix becomes a nuisance after a time, in which case they legislate again to overturn it. Hence fixed-term parliaments, to bind the 2010 coalition together, overturned by the 2019 government. Likewise, the 2011 law to prevent transfer of more power to the EU, overturned when it obstructed the arrangements for leaving. Both of these examples originated during the Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition and were reversed by later Conservative governments.
2. The fix reduces democratic accountability, in which case it becomes permanent and not open to challenge. Lloyd George stripped the Lords of power to block the Commons indefinitely, and even Gordon Brown did not dare to propose restoring such power to his intended assembly of the nations and regions.
Britain is not alone. The West faces a collective problem of rising autocracy. China is slowly forming a grouping of autocratic client states. Russia is now a Chinese client state, dependent on sales of oil and gas, through a new pipeline (not yet complete), to offset Western sanctions.
India and South Africa chose not to condemn the Russian invasion of Ukraine and have participated in naval exercises with China. Iran and Saudi Arabia, long bitter opponents in the Shia-Sunni divide, restored diplomatic relations following Chinese intervention. The future world order will be autocratic states led by China, versus democratic states. If a future American president loses interest in the world of free democratic nations, who will lead the democracies?
…
The key benefits of federalism would be:
1. Decisions would be closer to the people, who could contribute ideas.
2. Nations and regions could follow policies suited to their own best interests.
3. Many existing politicians could move from the UK level to one of the nations.
4. The existing career path for politicians would shorten, and good people would be more likely to come forward.
5. The honours system of patronage could wither.
6. A simple cash transfer mechanism could replace all funding formulae, allowing nations to achieve more equality in personal living standards.
7. More time could be spent scrutinising legislation (the Commons does not do this50).
There is one overarching benefit of federalism. The need for a strong person to hold everything together at the centre disappears. Recent times have shown that prime ministers are human, can make mistakes, and can be dominated by factions in their own parties. Why then do we allow one person to have absolute power? Why do we allow a change of person at the top to cause a complete change of policies? Without democratic consent? The person at the centre should represent the entire UK on the international stage, rather than being preoccupied with manoeuvres for domestic advantage …
A hung parliament arising out of public disaffection with our political system might just be open to a deal between several smaller parties and more thoughtful large party backbenchers to avoid a further election by insisting on policies that the party leaders would rather avoid. It all depends on how strongly the people say “We want democratic reform instead of this slide to autocracy.” … Adopting the concepts in this book would be one way a future government could serve the people. … This is the only way to reverse the damage of multiple failed policies that culminated in the United Kingdom imposing trade sanctions on itself.
Extracted from Reinventing Democracy: Improving British political governance by David Kauders, chapters 1, 4 and 7. (See published book for footnotes.)
