Communities Secretary Hazel Blears has today announced plans for a new White Paper focused on giving people a real say on improving local services and promoting active citizenship. The Empowerment White Paper, to be published in the Summer, will set out how the untapped talent of communities can be unleashed to ensure everyone has a greater say in [...]
Margaret Hodge has today made a speech on Britishness, Heritage and the Arts at an IPPR event at the National Gallery. Should cultural institutions promote shared values and a common national identity? Further details of the speech can be found here.
Professor Jonathan Tonge was announced as chair of the new Youth Citizenship Commission today (29 February 2008). The Governance of Britain green paper published last year highlighted the importance of engaging young people as citizens, so they are able to take an active part in society. The Youth Citizenship Commission will focus on young people aged 11 [...]
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has outlined the biggest changes “for a generation” to immigration procedures, including the setting up of a “citizenship contract” that explains an individual’s rights and responsibilities. Speaking to members of the third sector and local government representatives in North London today, the PM said that he expected tougher tests for citizenship in [...]
Justice Minister Michael Wills gave a speech on the constitutional renewal programme at the Leslie Scarman Lecture on 13 February 2008. This year’s lecture was delivered by Professor Aharon Barak, the former President of the Supreme Court of Israel. The full text is available here.
Jack Straw has given a speech at the George Washington University about the UK’s and USA’s constitutional heritage and what a British Bill of Rights and Responsibilities might look like. The full text of the speech is available here.
The Rt Hon Jack Straw MP, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, and Michael Wills MP, Minister of State visited Leicester on 10 December 2007 to talk to the local community about how our country is run. Michael Wills MP has responded with an article on the outcomes of the day: It was a [...]
The New York Times discusses the debate on British Values: “The proposal…..raise(s) a host of a host of tricky questions. What does it mean to be British? How do you express it in a country that believes self-promotion to be embarrassing? And how do you deal with a defining trait of the people you are trying [...]
The World Tonight has hosted a special debate on British Values - what are they, and do we need to have them written down in a special statement? On the panel: Justice Minister Michael Wills, Conservative front-bench spokesman David Willetts, author and columnist Joan Smith, Birmingham City Councillor Salma Yacoub and the Scottish historian and journalist [...]
The National Centre for Social Research has today published the British Social Attitudes 24th Report. The report describes the state of public attitudes towards: relationships and parenting; cohabitation; gender roles; national identity; working in the public sector; prejudice; car use and the environment; newspapers; political participation; part policies and poverty. More information can be found here (pdf).
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