Putting citizens at the heart of the UK constitution - Tim Hughes

Putting citizens at the heart of the UK constitution Tim Hughes IfG–Bennett Institute foreword In February 2022, the Institute for Government and the Bennett Institute for Public Policy launched a Review of the UK Constitution, to offer an evidence-based and non-partisan analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the constitution, and where necessary make recommendations for change. [...] Parliament is supposed to be the manifestation of the public in the UK’s political system, but the dominance of the executive and other shortcomings of the system limit its representational role. [...] In fact, “more often than not the UK government does not command the support of the majority of voters”, but by controlling parliament, “major changes and policies can be implemented without the support of most of the population”.9 The voting system, therefore, creates significant inequalities of power and influence between different groups of voters, while also handing significant power to govern. [...] Non-political institutions, on the other hand, such as the civil service and public service providers, maintain much higher levels of public trust.43 Public views are somewhat split on the cause of the problem: 15% say that it is the system of government, while 29% say it is the people in power, but the largest proportion (38%) attribute it to both.44 All of this is driving a public desire for sig. [...] The second is competence – the “ability of governments to deliver to citizens the services they need, at the quality level they expect”, which includes a combination of responsiveness and reliability.51 Active citizen participation is important to both of these sets of drivers of public trust.