June 2009.
Although largely ignored by government and censored by the "serious"
press, numerous calls to strengthen democracy by introducing the
citizen-initiated referendum at all levels of governance will have been
noticed by those who read on-line comments and blogs. At least one
senior UK academic a few days ago publicly echoed this call.

For over a decade our reform group has advocated the introduction of
citizen-led procedures such as the "initiative" , used to make
law-proposals or to recall MPs, and the citizen-triggered veto-referendum.

With a general election not too far ahead it is pertinent to ask if and
if so how the political parties would introduce elements of direct
democracy if elected to power.

We have followed manifestos and public statements and summarised what
can be expected of the hitherto larger parties. To read this go to
http://www.iniref.org/latest.html and follow the link
Citizens and Direct Democracy: What chance of reform do the major UK
political parties offer?


I&R ~ GB Citizens' Initiative and Referendum
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain
http://www.iniref.org/