Dear Sir,
Last Saturday, I attended the rally in Durham against the prorogation of Parliament, and it was my great honour to be asked to speak.
When the matter was discussed on the social media, however, I was concerned to note that most people could not stop themselves drifting off the subject of prorogation to start instead talking about Brexit.
About Parliamentary Democracy, Not Brexit.
The prorogation of Parliament is not about Brexit. It is a constitutional crisis of the highest importance.
Brexit is the OCCASION of the crisis … but it is not the ISSUE.
The issue is that the government is playing fast and loose with our Parliamentary democracy – preventing Parliament speaking – as a tactic to get its policies through, and it is that assault on our Parliament that I was protesting.
Of course, I told the rally, we should not be surprised that this government is trying to overturn our Parliamentary democracy, because since 2010 they’ve been systematically dismantling the whole of the State fabric we rely on. Unemployment and disability benefits, rights at work, the NHS, the army, the police, councils, education, pensions have all been underfunded and undermined. So it can come as no surprise that now they have come for our Parliamentary democracy.
THE POINT TO TAKE AWAY
However, evolved over eight centuries, the *institution* of Parliament is absolutely the basis of all our freedoms, all our laws, all our rights – our Britain-as-it-is. NOTHING warrants interfering with our Parliamentary democracy, and we need to be outraged at the slightest attempt.
The point to take away, therefore, is that our Parliamentary Democracy is extremely precious, but it is disturbingly fragile, and it is under attack …
It is our job to defend it.
John D Clare
