The CEP and the Convention on Modern Liberty

The CEP blog yesterday said that the Campaign for an English Parliament will be attending the Convention on Modern Liberty.

This is wonderful news.

The fact is that "politics" as we know it has changed faster and further since 1997 than we have known it to for 50 years. A chief concern that has manifested itself in declining electoral turnout and voter participation is the decline in trust in politicians. We can talk forever about why that is, but we all know it is the case. People are fed up of politicians and political parties.

That makes effecting change very difficult indeed. Political parties are the organisations that actually get into power. Before and/or during this, they are vehicles democracy and public engagement - or at least they should be. When the public lose faith in them and respect for them and stops getting involved in them, the very organisations that should allow us to express ourselves stop functioning properly. It's a downwards spiral.

Hence the rise of pressure groups.

By being non-party political, but still political, pressure groups can do what they say on the tin. They can pressure parties to accept things that, as individuals, we cannot convince them to accept.

That is why I'm in the CEP. The CEP is a pressure group that is working to achieve what I believe is justice for England - a fully devolved national Parliament for England.

And so the CEP's involvement in this Convention is great news. All these pressure groups are coming together to speak on a unifying theme. All the big names will be there - Liberty, the Taxpayers' Alliance, the Countryside Alliance. The better-known the CEP becomes, the better the chance of achieving its goals.

Joining this Convention shows the CEP is thinking big. As a pressure group, it can do things that a political party cannot.

And to the individuals from the CEP that will give up their time, money and effort to get there, and be brave enough to get on their feet and speak at the Conference: thank you. I know you will do us proud.