Post in e-Petitions: We should have one too, says Lord Norton

May 22 09:40 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
Edinburgh EH10 5DT
Scotland, UK

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