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item0076A 1076, 1077 1060 7 February 2005 Volunteers?
Now: this is not necessarily an ignoble or self-seeking agenda. Local government is indeed in a bad way, much of it beyond the point of no return, as a viable form of government. For my part, I favour the emergence of more professional regional government (on the Welsh Assembly model, but for smaller city regions) coupled with a massive expansion of "neighbourhood government", building on but superseding the current range of parish and community Councils. Such a system would accommodate a huge increase in opportunities for volunteers, which could prove a real gain for participatory democracy.
When the Victorians transformed our governmental system (in the 1888-1895 period) they created a whole new "political community" of elected Councillors and lay Magistrates (often overlapping cadres) which had real power to govern their communities. That system has lasted a century, but it has now run out of steam.
1061 7 February 2005 Wrong
The Tories must be rubbing their eyes in disbelief. The Government plans effectively to ask the Electorate whether they wish to "establish a Constitution for the EU". And for the majority of voters, the answer to that misconceived question must be No... For that is simply not the issue. There is an EU Constitution already, which has regulated the Union for over 40 years. It exists, derived from multiple sources, and has been frequently revised and updated. And if this most recent Revision does not go through, simplifying its use and bringing all its provisions together between two covers, the Union will simply carry on with it present higgledy-piggledy Constitution. True, new powers to get tough on terrorism will not be covered, nor will improved third-world aid. The offices of President and Foreign Minister will not be enhanced as envisaged. But that's all. Peter Hain was, politically, unwise to have described the new Constitution as "simply tidying up" - but he was in essence correct. Apart from a few mechanical issues (definition of a "qualified majority", changed seat-numbers in Parliament), nothing is changed by this re-run of the Constitution. The Government is therefore barmy, if it wants to win the Referendum, to adopt this wording. The wording should have been -
That would be vastly more accurate. And before you ask: Yes I have read the new Treaty. And having in my youth studied French and German public and administrative law, I understand precisely what the Treaty is about.
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I share the Government's new-found
enthusiasm for volunteers and volunteering. I can see mixed motives
behind the move: volunteers come cheap, and can help to achieve social
goals at minimal cost to the Exchequer. Gordon Brown is, after all,
leading the drive. And if a powerful third-sector of volunteers
could be developed, it would help to dish local government, the terminal
destruction of which if firmly on the Westminster agenda. Much of
the New Localism which will
inform Labour's manifesto is similarly driven.
But is the Government serious about this
vision? I have yet to be convinced. My suspicion is that the
whole strategy is designed to entrench Westminster power, not to devolve
it. 
Similar ingenuity is needed now. We
should create the status of "Public Trustee",
citizens qualified as Board members of local voluntary bodies, to assist
the structuring of this new regime. We should develop a third,
community-level advocates' profession. We should go much further
with community policing, giving volunteers - through community Watch
Committees - real power to affect local life. 
Is the
Government serious about all this? Or are volunteers
merely seen as cheap labour, to be bossed around by "the professionals"
who merely obey orders from above?
Do
you approve this latest Revision of the EU Constitution, which strengthens
the EU in the war against terrorism and as a humanitarian aid donor, and
accommodates the increasing number of European member States?