Gordon Brown moves to surrender executive power

[pvn]

http://www.epolitix.com/EN/News/2007...25edc66a0d.htm

Is Gordon Brown ahead of the curve? Does he see the impendending death of centralization?

[ QUOTE ]
So now I propose that in twelve areas important to our national life, the Prime Minister and executive should surrender or limit their powers - the exclusive exercise of which by the Government should have no place in a modern democracy.

These are:

* the power of the executive to declare war;
* the power to request the dissolution of Parliament;
* the power over recall of Parliament;
* the power of the executive to ratify international treaties without decision by Parliament;
* the power to make key public appointments without effective scrutiny;
* the power to restrict Parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services;
* power to choose bishops;
* power in the appointment of judges;
* power to direct prosecutors in individual criminal cases;
* power over the civil service itself;
* and the executive powers to determine the rules governing entitlement to passports and the granting of pardons.

I now propose to surrender or limit these powers to make for a more open twenty first century British democracy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Someone in this forum has recently said that governments "never" give up power voluntarily. Of course, sometimes they realize if they put up a fight they're going to end up losing, and losing bigger than if they give up now. Sort of like a plea bargain.

[zasterguava]

He's handing over schools to private funding and corporate control. In this instance I call for more government because as an alternative to this disgrace of privatising and making a market out of schools it equals less freedom and less power to the people.

[ianlippert]

It seems like this just weakens the power of the executive as a representative of the monarchy. I'm not familiar with british politics at all, but wouldnt this make britain more of a regular democracy. Much like Canada isnt under the control of the monarchy any more.

[NeBlis]

[ QUOTE ]
He's handing over schools to private funding and corporate control. In this instance I call for more government because as an alternative to this disgrace of privatising and making a market out of schools it equals less freedom and less power to the people.


[/ QUOTE ]


Instead you should hope that this happens as fast as possible.Britain will quickly eclipse the rest of the world in education. Graduation standards are the absolute most government control acceptable. The sooner you get the bureaucracy out of schools the better.

[Nielsio]

I'm not so sure here. The power still exists, except it's not in the hands of a few but it will be in the hands of a grey faceless bureaucracy. That doesn't make me feel much more gloomy.

It could also be that he wants to transition these powers over to Europe (which all the substates are already doing massively). A European army, a European constitution, etc, etc. This falls in line with my previous paragraph.

So what is it Brown? Is it decentralization or is it centralization disguised as decentralization?

[NeBlis]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He's handing over schools to private funding and corporate control. In this instance I call for more government because as an alternative to this disgrace of privatising and making a market out of schools it equals less freedom and less power to the people.


[/ QUOTE ]


Instead you should hope that this happens as fast as possible.Britain will quickly eclipse the rest of the world in education. Graduation standards are the absolute most government control acceptable. The sooner you get the bureaucracy out of schools the better.

[/ QUOTE ]


WAIT !! WTF are you on about?

a quick search for "Gordan Brown education" shows these top two articles

large jump in funding for schools

"free" education for all

[zasterguava]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
He's handing over schools to private funding and corporate control. In this instance I call for more government because as an alternative to this disgrace of privatising and making a market out of schools it equals less freedom and less power to the people.


[/ QUOTE ]


Instead you should hope that this happens as fast as possible.Britain will quickly eclipse the rest of the world in education. Graduation standards are the absolute most government control acceptable. The sooner you get the bureaucracy out of schools the better.

[/ QUOTE ]


WAIT !! WTF are you on about?

a quick search for "Gordan Brown education" shows these top two articles

large jump in funding for schools

"free" education for all

[/ QUOTE ]

Brown to expand school academies scheme
run by independent trusts but funded by the government

[zasterguava]

How are they funded?
To become an academy, a school must raise £2m, usually from a private organisation, such as a faith group. The government then contributes typically about £25m. The private organisation runs the school outside of the local education authority's (LEA) funding control, but still operates it within all the national requirements for curriculum and standards.

Who are some of the sponsors of academies?
So far, academies have been set up by Sir Peter Vardy, a Christian philanthropist who has been accused of advocating the teaching of creationism in science in the schools and Graham Able, the head of the prestigious Dulwich College in London. Other names coming forward to sponsor schools include BT, Channel 4, University College London, Microsoft, the BBC, Manchester Airport, UBS and charities such as United Learning Trust.

[theblitz]

[ QUOTE ]
So now I propose that in twelve areas important to our national life, the Prime Minister and executive should surrender or limit their powers - the exclusive exercise of which by the Government should have no place in a modern democracy.

These are:

* the power of the executive to declare war;
* the power to request the dissolution of Parliament;
* the power over recall of Parliament;
* the power of the executive to ratify international treaties without decision by Parliament;
* the power to make key public appointments without effective scrutiny;
* the power to restrict Parliamentary oversight of the intelligence services;
* power to choose bishops;
* power in the appointment of judges;
* power to direct prosecutors in individual criminal cases;
* power over the civil service itself;
* and the executive powers to determine the rules governing entitlement to passports and the granting of pardons.

I now propose to surrender or limit these powers to make for a more open twenty first century British democracy.

[/ QUOTE ]

Here in Israel this is already true. All of the above are powers of the parliament and not of the executive.

We are way ahead of you all. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[pvn]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm not so sure here. The power still exists, except it's not in the hands of a few but it will be in the hands of a grey faceless bureaucracy. That doesn't make me feel much more gloomy.

It could also be that he wants to transition these powers over to Europe (which all the substates are already doing massively). A European army, a European constitution, etc, etc. This falls in line with my previous paragraph.

So what is it Brown? Is it decentralization or is it centralization disguised as decentralization?

[/ QUOTE ]

That's the big question. It's definitely not total freedom, either way, but it COULD be a step in a positive direction, even if he doesn't fully realize where he's heading.