Constitutional Reform

EDM number 2045 in 1992-93, proposed by Tony Benn on 19/05/1993.

That this House, noting the fundamentally undemocratic nature of the British Constitution, under which the people are in law subjects of a hereditary monarch, who has no electoral legitimacy, are bound to the Crown by absurd and meaningless oaths of allegiance and are also required to accept the indignity of an unelected House of Lords, believing that the existence of Crown prerogatives which allow the executive to make war, sign treaties and agree to laws in Brussels without consulting the House of Commons, represents a complete denial of basic rights, rejecting the widespread use of Crown patronage for thousands of political, legal and church appointments which destroy any real accountability by those who confer and enjoy that patronage, convinced that power is far too centralized in London to the detriment of the people of England, Scotland and Wales, and those who elect local authorities, demanding equal representation for women on all elected bodies, insisting that a Charter of Rights should form the basis for a new British Constitution, calls for Britain to become a democratic, secular federal commonwealth, along the lines of the Commonwealth of Britain Bill, to be drawn up and put to the people for their consideration to secure (1) the abolition of the Monarchy and the House of Lords, (2) the establishment of separate parliaments for England, Scotland and Wales, (3) the ending of British jurisdiction in Northern Ireland, (4) the disestablishment of the Church of England and (5) the institution of democratic institutions to guarantee popular rights.

This motion has been signed by a total of 14 MPs.