The Citizens’ Social Contract

Society used to have a glue that held us together as a people and a country. It was a social contract between the government and the people.  Since the take-over of market-driven neo-liberalism, that glue has got weaker. Now, we are like an old piece of furniture. One puff from falling over, our glue is so fragile.

ALL have put together an outline social contract for wider discussion. It reimagines Britain from the point of view of us, the citizens. It addresses our rights and responsibilities and those of government to those governed.

We must reimagine the British State as a joint enterprise between citizens and public servants.  An affirmed status of citizen with legally enforceable rights with representative and deliberative processes working to rebuild trust in the country.  To create a place where everyone can flourish and the public space has room for all of us. 

To move forward as a nation, Britains need a consensus on what politics is trying to achieve for us citizens. This requires a practical framework with built-in rights and outcomes and clear responsibilities for the government to deliver them.

Many parts of the British state do not recognise us as citizens; some remnants operate as if we are subjects in a long-lost empire. To have defined citizenship with legal status means addressing the constitutional puzzle that the unequal Union of Nations has created. To create a common basis for public life.

These proposals address the critical deficits in our society:

• The constitutional contract, citizenship, representation and  participation
• The economic contract
• The Environmental contract
• The Social Equality contract
• The Intergenerational contract.

ALL offer this as the starting point in the national discussion. Britain must rework its collective principles and rebuild the structures that deliver our rights.