All posts in the topic e-Petitions: We should have one too, says Lord Norton (Short link)
Summary
- There are 2 posts — by 2 authors — in this topic.
- Latest post made by James Gilmour at May 22 10:16 UTC
Over at LordsOfTheBlog, Lord Norton asked yesterday if it’s time for the House
of Lords to join the House of Commons in having their own e-Petitioning system:
The wish to petition the Commons rather than the Lords is understandable,
but there
are occasions when it may make sense to petition the Lords, including on
a particular
piece of legislation or to try to get an issue raised. I see no reason
why we should
not pursue the possibility of allowing petitions to be submitted
electronically.
Link: http://lordsoftheblog.wordpress.com/2008/05/20/e-petitions/
Looks like e-petitions are becoming well embedded in the UK constitution.
Already according to Hazel Blears (quoted by ICELE):
The UK is one of the biggest petition signing countries in Europe and the
World and
Ministers are to harness this as a key way of giving local people more
say.
Link: http://www.icele.org/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=260
Is this a good thing? Doesn’t it distract from other issues like
over-centralisation or unfair electoral processes?
It's worth noting that ICELE are promoting their e-Petitioning day on 11 June
Link: http://www.icele.org/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=259
Peter
Peter Cruickshank
International Teledemocracy Centre
Napier University
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Scotland, UK
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Peter > Sent: Thursday, May 22, 2008 10:39 AM > Looks like e-petitions are becoming well embedded in the UK > constitution. Already according to Hazel Blears (quoted by ICELE): > > The UK is one of the biggest petition signing countries in Europe and the World and > Ministers are to harness this as a key way of giving local people more say. > > Link: http://www.icele.org/site/scripts/news_article.php?newsID=260 > > Is this a good thing? Doesn't it distract from other issues > like over-centralisation or unfair electoral processes? Of course it's just a diversionary tactic from the bigger and more fundamental aspects of democracy and participation. Petitions and e-petitions have their place, no doubt about that. But it seems clear to me that the current political embrace of e-petitioning is to create an illusion of involvement, both for those who sign the petitions and for the politicians "who have done something". Please note, that is NOT a politically partisan point - I would say the same no matter which group of politicians were involved or in power.