For immediate release
In front of the statue of suffragette Emmeline Pankhurst by Parliament today Maddison Wheeldon, spokesperson for grassroots organisation Assemble, delivered a statement outside Parliament revealing for the first time the UK public’s current 5 urgent political priorities. They are:
1. End Support for Genocide and Unjust War
2. Tackle Climate Breakdown
3. Tax The Rich and Address Economic Inequality
4. Expand Participatory democracy
5. End political corruption
The full report is linked here.
This information has emerged from 30 Assemblies – facilitated community meetups – held across the country from Devon to Merseyside in the past five months. Outputs from all these Assemblies were concentrated down to 5 priorities in a ‘House of the People’ event in London last month.
Standing in front of a replica of the throne seen in the House of the Lords — typical of the extreme luxury and aristocratic trappings seen in the chamber — she read out the following:
“Hi, I’m Maddison Wheeldon. I’m a single mum-of-two and recent Independent candidate for Warrington North and I’m here for Assemble today to speak about the House of the People.
We all know that the people in Britain are wonderful – they’re resilient, kind, creative, and courageous. Our communities, in their diversity, are the glue that holds our society together!
But the Government is unwilling to protect us. There is no political will to deal with the problems we’re facing right now: everything from the cost of living crisis, child poverty, and the housing crisis to the genocide in Gaza, the climate crisis, and rising fascism. Politics is failing us.
The way we make decisions is ancient and it needs upgrading. Half of those in Parliament are unelected Aristocrats, and the other half appear to be careerist politicians who work only for themselves. They sweep up lavish gifts in exchange for favours, and virtue signal to the public when it suits them.
People like us don’t get a look in.
There are solutions to the problems we’re facing, and our communities can deliver them. We can do right by us – we have the right to contribute to the decisions which affect people like us.
That’s why the grassroots organisation Assemble has been running Assemblies – which are open meetups with neighbours – across the country for the past five months. From Devon to Merseyside and beyond, local people have been getting together and answering the question:
What do you not trust Politicians to get done?
18 communities ran over 30 Assemblies, with more than 1,000 people engaged in the project. 26 of these Assemblies nominated independent candidates to represent them in the general election – gaining a total of 60,000 votes and one elected MP in Shockat Adam. This was just the start. In time there will be Assemblies running in every ward in the UK
Last month Assemble launched the House of People, which is a genuinely democratic alternative to the House of Lords. It will be a place where regular people will be selected by sortition – like a poll- to serve at random, like a Jury. They will take all the input from local Assemblies and turn them into a concise mandate.
That is exactly what was tested last month in London, with all the Assembly outcomings from the past few months being deliberated upon, and democratically concentrated into 5 demands for the Government.
They are:
End Support for Genocide and Unjust War
Tackle Climate Breakdown
Tax The Rich and Address Economic Inequality
Expand Participatory democracy / Expand our democracy to enable people to participate
End political corruption
This is the start of a new kind of politics, where democracy is a process we all take part in. Voting a few times a decade isn’t effective enough, and it is not a true democracy. We need change; let’s make it happen.”
Assemble is fundraising to host an official House of the People event in 2025, which will see participants (selected by a democratic lottery) who proportionately represent the UK population spend several days deliberating on issues that will have been raised in local Assemblies between now and then. They will be paid for their time and informed by subject matter experts to create another 5 concrete proposals.
Assemble spokesperson Yaz Ashmawi, 29, said today:
“While politicians strike deals behind closed doors at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool today we shared the public’s genuine democratic interests out in the open. Communities do have the solutions to the problems we’re facing. The way we make decisions in this country is ancient – a permanent House of the People would bring it into the 21st century.”
Assemble is part of the Umbrella movement which includes Just Stop Oil and Youth Demand. The group endorsed 26 independent candidates in the general election, including Shockat Adam and Andrew Feinstein. These candidates ran under a shared platform of an updated politics, where 30 assemblies shaped manifestos and were designed to lead representatives to act on the problems people were most concerned about during the election.
A public-led institution like a House of the People will produce fairer, more effective, and more democratic outcomes than the existing parliamentary system, which is not fit for purpose. The recent election saw the lowest turnout and vote count for two decades, yet produced a prime minister with the strongest majority. Polls show that nearly 1 in 4 British people are in favour of replacing the House of Lords with a permanent rolling citizens’ assembly. [3] [4]
END
Assemble Twitter: https://x.com/TimeToAssemble_
Assemble Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/timetoassemble_/
Assemble linktree: https://linktr.ee/assembledemocracy
Email: [email protected]
PICTURES AND VIDEOS (FREE TO USE) AVAILABLE HERE
Notes to Editors
[1] https://timetoassemble.org/assemble-to-host-house-of-the-people-launch-event-in-london-on-11th-august/
[2] https://timetoassemble.org/assemble-candidate-shockat-adam-wins-leicester-south-election-amid-independent-landslide/
[3] https://www.sortitionfoundation.org/house_of_citizens_tops_public_poll_to_replace_the_house_of_lords
[4] https://www.sortitionfoundation.org/the_growing_trust_crisis_in_uk_politics
I love the sound of Assemble.
Assembly sounds like the way to run the country to better serve our needs & in order to live in harmony & respect for the earth , our mother, our home
Brilliant. The way forward.
Time to reflect the priorities of real people, not corporations and financial interest groups.
I support the methods and objectives and hope to see more of this work in future.
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These assemblies are a good idea, but they MUST be selected by sortition to represent a genuine cross section of the population. It is confusing to be suggesting that the ones Assemble have organised are representative. It is a shame that you are muddying the waters. It makes it harder to promote the principle of genuine assemblies.