Message from Compass:
Only a few weeks ago, many had not even heard of the idea. But now, the use of a Citizens’ Assembly to break the Brexit deadlock is a real possibility.
Compass, working as ever with others, has helped get an answer to Brexit on the political map and found a way to rebuild our broken democracy.
The demand is simple: if Parliament can’t decide, then a representative sample of the people must take over. Chosen by lot and filtered to be representative of class, geography, gender, race and views on Brexit, they would decide between which of the three options on the table to recommend to Parliament: Deal, No Deal or a Second Referendum.
A Brexit Citizens’ Assembly would take ten weeks. During this time it would set up, present the evidence, allow people to deliberate and then recommend a way forward to Parliament. A short extension of Article 50 would be needed. It is doable.
Lisa Nandy and Stella Creasy, now backed by dozens of MPs from across the spectrum, have submitted an amendment for Parliament to set up such as an Assembly.
The amendment is likely to be debated next Tuesday. It’s called ‘Amendment H’.
Whoever your MP is, lobby them – write, email or turn up at a weekend surgery. You are not asking them to take a side on Brexit, just to support a better process to reach an answer.
Last night in Westminster, a packed room heard the case for a new politics. In times of crisis we look to the ideas lying around us – the best idea is a Citizens’ Assembly. It is time to get out of the Brexit stalemate and deepen our democracy by trusting the people.
Please do all you can to ensure the country has the option of a Citizens’ Assembly.
Our deepest thanks,
The Compass Team
Adam Cronkright
A.R.Teleb
avanderven
avergne
azakaras
Brett Hennig
campbellwallace
Simon Threlkeld
codyhipskind
Common Lot Sortitionist
conallboyle
constitutionalism
davidschecter
gtridimas
hubertushofkirchner
John Burnheim
jgarry20151
johnedwardtaylor
Jonathan Crock
keithsutherland
Jacob Richter
lukewhito
SimonPek
Nicholas Gruen
Patrick Chalmers
Paul Gölz
paulnollen
peterstone
qcollective
rcaze
Roger Knights
roslynfuller
Pierre-Etienne Vandamme
shaharavin
tbouricius
Joshua Laferriere
Yoram Gat
Presumably a 3-way choice by a CA would be subject to the Condorcet Paradox. I also think it’s too late for a sortition-based solution as the debate is now so highly polarized. It’s a shame nobody took any notice when Simon and I (independently) proposed making the Brexit decision by CA before the referendum: https://equalitybylot.com/2016/04/19/allotted-bodies-better-than-referenda/#comment-25979
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Sorry, the original (April 2016) link was https://equalitybylot.com/2016/04/19/allotted-bodies-better-than-referenda
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Ex-premier Gordon Brown now also supports citizen parliaments as a tool to solve the Brexit Crisis. To share an interesting observation: on a recent visit to Australia I noted with interest that quite a number of former top politicians – as opposed to acting ones – join in to support “statistically representative” democracy. Maybe, their greater distance from party interests allows them a more neutral perspective to recognise and promote the new form.
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Here is the link: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/20/citizens-assembly-brexit-article-50-britain?fbclid=IwAR2dmyX2qd_BR3n_2fmTmthKNDyd-SJ0cZSwP3J6YRjY6NFr2pZpfiYhwZA
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