Governance of Britain

Michael Wills, Justice Minister, gave a speech yesterday at the Constitution Unit, University College London on the need for a national debate on constitutional reform to inform discussions about the new Bill of Rights and Responsibilities. “…the debate that will shortly begin on the Bill of Rights and Responsibilities can only make sense in the context of the wider debate [...]

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 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).

The government has today published a review of voting systems which examines the experiences of the different forms of elections introduced over the last ten years in the UK.   The press release and full report may be found here.   

The Justice constitution committee has released their report A British Bill of Rights - informing the debate. This report aims to encourage debate on the question: ‘should there be a Bill of Rights for Britain?’ It is intended to focus and inform public discussion on whether our rights are best protected under the current Human [...]