“The Governance of Britain” and a New Chapter on Liberty?
November 6, 2007
On 25 October 2007, Gordon Brown set out his plans to write the next chapter in the story of British civil liberties and pledged his commitment to a British Bill of Rights in a speech at the University of Westminister.
Mr Brown said that the British Bill of Rights would “entrench and enhance” individual freedoms. Yet on the other hand, the Prime Minister stated that the bill would set out the responsibilities “that flow from British citizenship”. He did not rule out controversial plans for ID cards nor the extension of the holding of terrorist suspects beyond 28 days but said that the latter would be subject to scrutiny.
See a summary of the meaning of a written constitution in the UK – as well as links to a summary of the Prime Minister’s speech on liberty and other documents at:
This follows the publication on 3 July 07 of the Green Paper, “The Governance of Britain”. Gordon Brown said that the Green Paper sets out for “a new British constitutional settlement that entrusts more power to parliament and the British people”. This “routemap” (rather than a “final blueprint”) concerns the shifting of power from the executive to Parliament ( for example through limits on the exercise of prerogative powers such as the declaration of war), and reform of public appointments and the role of the Attorney General etc.
See summary at:
http://politics.guardian.co.uk/constitution/story/0,,2117920,00.html
Governance of Britain Green Paper can be found at:
http://www.official-documents.gov.uk/document/cm71/7170/7170.pdf
Related documents on Ministry of Justice Website:
http://www.justice.gov.uk/publications/governanceofbritain.htm
