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Tony Benn The Guardian

Betty Boothroyd, who bows out this week, has been an outstanding speaker who has earned respect and affection from the whole House, not only for her personal qualities, but for the firm stand she has taken in the defence of parliament.

The speaker has, over the centuries, been the voice of the Commons in a centralised political system in which the crown sought to control everything. Even today the powers of the crown remain unaltered, although they are now exercised by the prime minister who can, using the royal prerogatives, take us to war, sign treaties, make laws in Brussels and exercise immense powers of patronage, appointing bishops, judges, peers, ministers, European commissioners all without getting parliamentary consent.

The slow advance towards democracy in this country, by the extension of the franchise, only gave every man and woman a vote at the same age in my lifetime. This conferred on them a power no MP dare ignore, although the people of this country are still denied the right to elect their head of state or members of the second chamber.

There are likely to be more changes in the future, as new centres of power seek to dominate the political agenda. Today Britain, as a member of the EU, can have its laws repealed if they are found to conflict with legislation made by the Council of Ministers, in secret, in Brussels. The Commons has no say in the matter. And if Britain were to join the single currency all major economic decisions would be automatically excluded from any form of democratic accountability through parliament to the electors.

Today the US has military bases in Britain entirely outside our control, from which nuclear strikes can be launched anywhere in the world. These are controlled by the president in Washington without any role for the Commons in Westminster.

The mass media, occupying the position once held by the medieval church, are now very influential and the grand forum of the nation has moved from the chamber to the TV studios. Globalisation has produced multinational corporations which are more powerful than many nation states, currency speculation can inflict serious damage and the IMF, World Bank and WTO, all unelected, have in effect become a world government with no claim to democratic legitimacy.

Set against those new power structures many people ask how their own interests can be effectively represented and indeed what is the future for democracy itself. Tight centralised executive control from Downing Street has replaced cabinet government and transformed parliamentary democracy into a spectator sport, a practice which is unlikely to change, even under a Conservative government.

If we are to be expected to accept a president instead of a prime minister then we need a house of representatives, free to support, amend or reject proposals that come from the government of the day - a genuinely independent legislative assembly. A determined new speaker, armed with the authority of the House and absolutely free from executive control could raise these questions and hand down rulings from the chair which upheld the role of MPs as representing their constituents' interests, making ministers more accountable.



There is no doubt that unless we can restore the vitality of representative democracy more and more people will conclude that they are just pawns in an unending political game to be

managed and manipulated for the convenience of those at the top. This may help explain the falling turnout in elections, the growth of apathy and the sense of disenchantment with politics and parliament.

Sooner or later this erosion of democracy has to be faced and corrected if we are to avoid the danger that some rightwing demagogue could come along, as happened in Europe in the 30s and has re-appeared recently in Austria.

Over the centuries all real progress has come from below and parliament has usually been the last place to get the message. Any resumption of the campaign for democracy will have to start outside. That is why, after 50 years in the Commons, I have decided not to stand again so as to be free to devote more time to politics.

What is needed now is a deliberate strategy to make political power accountable and to use democracy to protect us from the abuse of global economic power, which we are told we have to accept. Such a sustained public campaign would have overwhelming public support, especially from those active people who are working for progress but despair at the way the political system excludes them. If the Commons elects another strong speaker it would be a good start in shifting the balance back in our favour.

Tony Benn is a former cabinet minister. He will stand down as MP for Chesterfield at the next election.

 

 

WORD STUDY

Ex. I. Match the phrasal verbs with their Latin-derived synonyms. Which words were used in the article?


l.bow out

2.bring back

3.bring out

4.come along

5.hand down

6.shut out

7.stand down

8.turn down

 

1. arrive

2. exclude

3. produce

4. reject

5. resign

6. restore

7. retire

8. transfer



Date: 2015-12-24; view: 644


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