Unlock Democracy is a British

pressure group Advocacy groups, also known as interest groups, special interest groups, lobbying groups or pressure groups use various forms of advocacy in order to influence public opinion and ultimately policy. They play an important role in the develop ...

, based in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. The organisation campaigns for a more

participatory democracy Participatory democracy, participant democracy or participative democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected repr ...

in Britain, founded upon a written

constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

. Unlock Democracy works to promote democratic reform across the political spectrum and is not aligned with any political party. The organisation's activities include producing a range of publications, lobbying politicians and political parties and working on projects to promote greater public involvement in politics, at both local and national levels. Unlock Democracy is led by a governing council, elected by all members biannually. The council in turn elects its own chair and a management board which oversees the day to day running of the organisation. It is funded from three main sources: grant income for specific projects from various foundations and trusts, subscriptions and donations from its members and supporters, and income from its subsidiary company Rodell Properties Ltd. The founding director was Peter Facey, who was director of Unlock Democracy's predecessor organisation the

New Politics Network The New Politics Network was an independent political and campaigning think tank in the United Kingdom, concerned with democratic renewal and popular participation in politics. It was founded as the successor to Democratic Left in 1999, and merged ...

in 2001 and later becoming director of

Charter 88 Charter 88 was a British pressure group that advocated constitutional and electoral reform and owes its origins to the lack of a written constitution. It began as a special edition of the ''New Statesman'' magazine in 1988 and it took its name ...

. He was responsible for the merger of the two organisations in 2007. Being succeeded as director in 2013 by long-time Deputy Director Alexandra Runswick, who led the organisation until early 2020. In October 2020, Former

Liberal Democrat Several political parties from around the world have been called the Liberal Democratic Party or Liberal Democrats. These parties usually follow a liberal democratic ideology. Active parties Former parties See also *Liberal democracy *Lib ...

Tom Brake Thomas Anthony Brake (born 6 May 1962) is a British Liberal Democrat politician. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Carshalton and Wallington in London from 1997 to 2019. He was appointed Director of the cross party pressure group Unloc ...

was appointed as the new director of Unlock Democracy.

History

In 2003, 15 years after the formation of

, the organisation was experiencing a very turbulent period and this led to great organisational changes. A loss of intellectual contribution, the organisation's increasing financial woes and a period of resignations and redundancies created a near crisis situation in late 2003. In February 2005, Charter 88 and the

(NPN) set up a joint working relationship to make the most of their resources in the establishment of the Elect the Lords campaign. The two organisations decided to formalise their working relationship in 2006, and Unlock Democracy was founded in 2007. Members of Charter 88 (a pressure group advocating a charter of connected constitutional changes, including a written constitution, electoral reform, freedom of information, etc.) and NPN (the organisation established after the winding up of the think tank Democratic Left, which was itself the legal successor of the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

) voted to merge the two organisations. The movement and subsequent campaigning of the organisation could be seen as remaining truer to its Charter 88 roots than those of the NPN. The NPN

strapline Advertising slogans are short phrases used in advertising campaigns to generate publicity and unify a company's marketing strategy. The phrases may be used to attract attention to a distinctive product feature or reinforce a company's brand. Etym ...

, however, "connecting people and politics", was retained. The merger was completed in November 2007.

Campaign goals

Unlock Democracy arguing for a "vibrant, inclusive democracy that puts power in the hands of the people". Its primary goal is the setting in place of a democratic participative process resulting in a

written constitution A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these pr ...

. It is suggested that this constitution should explicitly enshrine; * The

separation of powers Separation of powers refers to the division of a state's government into branches, each with separate, independent powers and responsibilities, so that the powers of one branch are not in conflict with those of the other branches. The typi ...

between the

Executive Executive ( exe., exec., execu.) may refer to: Role or title * Executive, a senior management role in an organization ** Chief executive officer (CEO), one of the highest-ranking corporate officers (executives) or administrators ** Executive di ...

, the

Legislature A legislature is an assembly with the authority to make laws for a political entity such as a country or city. They are often contrasted with the executive and judicial powers of government. Laws enacted by legislatures are usually known ...

and the

Judiciary The judiciary (also known as the judicial system, judicature, judicial branch, judiciative branch, and court or judiciary system) is the system of courts that adjudicates legal disputes/disagreements and interprets, defends, and applies the law ...

. * The divisions and limitations of powers between central and

local government Local government is a generic term for the lowest tiers of public administration within a particular sovereign state. This particular usage of the word government refers specifically to a level of administration that is both geographically-loc ...

within the UK. * Basic liberties and human rights for all. In addition to this, Unlock Democracy also campaigns; * For fair and open elections * For transparency in public decision making * To ensure that power is exercised as closely to people as is practicable * To empower individuals and their communities to have a greater say in over the decision that affect them * For democratic accountability for all elected officials, government and public bodies * For universal

human rights Human rights are moral principles or normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for certain standards of hu ...

for all The Unlock Democracy constitution contains the charter (a set of aims set out by predecessor organisation Charter 88) as an appendix.

Campaign activities

Unlock Democracy attends party conferences and runs external events such as People and Politics Day. It continues to work with and support other organisations such as

Local Works The New Economics Foundation (NEF) is a British think-tank that promotes "social, economic and environmental justice". NEF was founded in 1986 by the leaders of The Other Economic Summit (TOES) with the aim of working for a "new model of wealth ...

on the

Sustainable Communities Act The Sustainable Communities Act 2007 (c 23) is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The Bill for this Act was a Private Member's Bill. The Sustainable Communities Act represents the campaign success by Local Works, a UK coalition ...

. Lastly, it continues its work on democratic reform, including the Elect the Lords campaign, and the campaign for a review of the

UK general election This is a list of United Kingdom general elections (elections for the UK House of Commons) since the first in 1802. The members of the 1801–1802 Parliament had been elected to the former Parliament of Great Britain and Parliament of Ireland ...

electoral system. The May 2020 elections were postponed because of Covid until May 2021. In February 2021, with Covid still causing concerns, the UK government argued that leafleting by volunteers for the May 2021 elections was not allowed, but the commercial delivery of leaflets was. This was disadvantageous to the UK's smaller political parties, which rely more heavily on volunteers. Following a campaign by

Big Brother Watch Big Brother Watch is a non-profit non-party British civil liberties and privacy campaigning organisation. It was launched in 2009 by founding director Alex Deane to campaign against state surveillance and threats to civil liberties. It was fou ...

, Unlock Democracy and other campaign organisations, the UK government relented and allowed campaigning to take place from 8 March 2021. In April 2021, ahead of the May 2021 Local elections. Unlock Democracy launched its Community Democracy campaign "Turning the Tide". As a part of this campaign, Unlock Democracy commissioned a report by

De Montfort University De Montfort University Leicester (DMU) is a public university in the city of Leicester, England. It was established in accordance with the Further and Higher Education Act in 1992 as a degree awarding body. The name De Montfort University was tak ...

on the state of local government in England over the past 40 years. The report
"Local Government in England – Forty Years of Decline"
outlines how the autonomy, financial independence and democratic legitimacy of local government have all been weakened. It concludes that local government has been "hollowed out", that "Local Democracy is at breaking point", and that "urgent action is needed to restore it".

Funding

Unlock Democracy has been given an A grade for funding transparency by

Who Funds You? Who Funds You? is a project that rates and promotes transparency of funding sources of think tanks. The project scored think tanks according to four criteria, namely whether the organisation discloses its income, whether it publishes financial de ...

References

External links

*
"Parties 'near critical condition'"
– 2006 BBC News article about an Unlock Democracy survey] {{Authority control Political and economic think tanks based in the United Kingdom Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Constitution of the United Kingdom