Scotland’s Citizens’ Assembly: What can it do to be a success?This piece is a guest post from Conor Black. Conor is a former student of the University of Glasgow who wrote his MRes dissertation on ‘Mini-Publics in the Deliberative System’. The first meeting of the...Posted 22 Oct 2019
Support grows for new way of doing democracy, as hundreds discuss Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland plansIt’s clear that there is a growing appetite for a new kind of democracy, after hundreds gathered on Monday evening to debate plans for a Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland. At a sold-out panel Q&A hosted...Posted 10 Jul 2019
Citizens’ assemblies can help us move beyond a broken Westminster model of politicsThis piece was originally published by The Scotsman. Talk of citizens’ assemblies is in the air. Former Conservative leadership contender, Rory Stewart has suggested holding one to break through the Brexit impasse. And on Monday,...Posted 20 Jun 2019
Local citizens’ assemblies could break our political deadlock – but the government have vetoed themLast summer, ministers announced genuinely exciting plans for piloting ‘deliberative democracy’ across the UK. The plan was to use a series of citizens’ assemblies to engage people with politics, to tackle complex and contested topics,...Posted 22 Mar 2019
What is a Citizens’ Assembly?Citizens’ Assemblies are often in the news, from the assemblies that led to the referendums on equal marriage and abortion in Ireland, to the Citizens’ Assembly of Scotland and local council climate assemblies. While the...Posted 24 Jan 2019
There’s a way through this Brexit gridlock which can unite the countryThe likelihood of politicians reaching a consensus on Brexit appears to be diminishing by the day – to consternation on all sides. But what if there’s another way? Parliament is split on May’s deal and...Posted 29 Dec 2018
The Irish abortion referendum: How a Citizens’ Assembly helped to break years of political deadlockIn a historic referendum on Friday, the Irish electorate voted with a resounding Yes in favour of removing the Eighth Amendment (article 40.3.3) from the Constitution. Citizens were asked whether or not to replace the...Posted 29 May 2018
Politicians should stop presuming and start listening on BrexitIt is hard to turn on the TV now without one politician or another telling us what the ‘British people’ want from Brexit. On one side, one argues that only leaving the single market will...Posted 12 Jan 2018
There’s another way of doing BrexitBy Dr Alan Renwick A battle broke out in Parliament last week, as MPs across the House successfully pushed for a meaningful vote on the final Brexit deal. It was an attempt to make our...Posted 18 Dec 2017
The public can unite on the big issues around Brexit: the Citizens’ Assembly showed howJust a few days ago, a representative body of UK citizens came together to do something new: work across divides together to find a way forward on Brexit. Members of the Citizens’ Assembly on Brexit...Posted 03 Oct 2017