Promoting democracy – Is the Government right to have cold feet about the ‘duty to promote democracy’ ?

It’s already law!

Section 1 of the Local Democracy, Economic Development and Construction Act creates a new duty for local authorities in England and Wales to promote the opportunities for citizen involvement in a surprising range of local institutions. These include a long list of those which critics have long labelled as featuring a ‘democratic deficit’. Even though an English local NHS Trust, for example is ultimately responsible to the Department of Health, there are structures whereby interested people can express their views (e.g. Local Involvement Networks or LINks). Even though the Police are similarly answerable to the Home Office, again there are various forms of consultative machinery.