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Andy Burnham may not be overly concerned with constitutional changes, but @davidallengreen argues, pretty convincingly, that he should be.... a robust constitution would be (is) a prophylactic against the worst excesses of a Far Right govt.
Leaving constitutional action to limit such political excess(es) cannot wait until its imminent or arrived!
https://theemptycity.com/blog/2026/07/the-best-time-to-fix-a-roof-is/
@ChrisMayLA6 @davidallengreen already know what the answer will be from Team Andy: "Now is not the time"
'Continuity Starmer' indeed.
@ChrisMayLA6 @davidallengreen everyone wants Andy to do something. He isn鈥檛 Superman. He will miss many things and will concentrate on what are his priorities and not necessarily all the thousands of other things people want him to do.
@ChrisMayLA6 @davidallengreen But Andy Burnham is part of a far right government, why would he want a prophylactic against it ?
@staringatclouds @davidallengreen
I may have my doubts about Burnham, but to call hm far Right, robs that term of any real explanatory value
@ChrisMayLA6 @davidallengreen His party is whether he is or not
@staringatclouds @davidallengreen
Hmmmm... No, I'd still disagree; the Labour party has been moving right for years & we might say, easily that it is now right of centre (even as the centre has moved rightwards) on many issues, but I still would say to then characterise the Labour Party as Far Right robs the term of any real meaning... what do you then call parties further to the Right from there: the ultra-Right?
@ChrisMayLA6 @davidallengreen Sorry but they just stripped me of some fairly basic human rights, well come August 5th they will, as far as I'm concerned that makes them far right
@staringatclouds @davidallengreen
OK, I guess where our difference is, I would say a govt. of the Right can have same far right policies without being fully far right, while your position (which I may disagree with, but has a clear logic) is that once a Govt. has adopted on or more far right policies it is itself, far right - I may disagree, but I respect that view
This is laudable, but I worry that we might focus too much on fixing the current system rather than accepting that in several respects (particularly the democratic imbalance in non-London England) is no longer fit for purpose.
Political appointments to the HoL are ridiculous, but fixing that won't make the HoL any less ridiculous in other ways, while empowering regulators staffed and led by political and corporate appointments my be counter-productive....
...
Similarly, electoral reform has been talked about forever, but introducing compulsory voting, AV or PR won't necessarily stop a radical illiberal majority, even if it does safeguard against a Scotland-style wipeout of mainstream parties in a single GE.
Citizen participation is obviously important, but expecting this to work against the centralisation of the current system would require parallel devolution to non-London England that Westminster won't permit.
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