THE EU referendum campaign and result has revealed a huge, almost unbridgeable, gulf between the concerns of the majority in this country and the MPs who are supposed to represent those views in Parliament.
This is a crisis of representative democracy that can be wholly attributed to the failure of our unwritten constitution and electoral systems.
We need a new constitutional settlement for the people of the UK but it needs to be drawn up, not by the UK government and its civil servants in London, but by representatives who are closer to the people: our local authority councillors.
I propose a Councillors’ UK Constitution Convention comprised of two representatives from each UK district, county, metropolitan county and borough, London borough, and unitary council to meet, elect an executive and subsequently agree a written UK constitution including electoral reform.
The finalised constitution should then be ratified by the Parliament of the UK, Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales, Northern Ireland Assembly and London Assembly and put to the people for their consent in a referendum.
GEOFF NAYLOR
Winchester
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