We are curating a thought leadership series about opportunities for participatory and deliberative processes in a shifting political landscape following the 2024 general election.
This will inevitably be a time of change — and we want to take this chance to think about some of the key issues, tensions and arguments that surround deliberative and participatory democracy in the UK and beyond.
📖 Read our sixth blog, titled: ‘To rebuild trust, the Labour government has to start trusting the public to be part of making decisions’, Involve Director of Advocacy and Communications, Calum Green, puts forward that rebuilding trust starts by the government choosing to trust the public.
The recent election of a new Labour Government presents an important opportunity to bolster deliberative democracy across the devolved nations of the United Kingdom. With distinct political landscapes in Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales, Labour’s approach to enhancing public participation can be a transformative force in reshaping governance.
In Northern Ireland, the challenge lies in addressing a divided society and fragile political institutions, while offering a fresh approach that incorporates citizen dialogue into policymaking.
Scotland, on the other hand, has a history of centralising power, requiring a greater emphasis on local democracy and participatory budgeting to address pressing social issues. Wales, with its long-standing Labour government, offers examples of innovative public participation methods that could serve as a model for broader reforms.
Through targeted initiatives, Labour can empower communities across the UK, ensuring governance is more responsive, effective, and equitable. In this blog, We hear from three commentators about what this might look like in their respective jurisdictions.
Northern Ireland
Rebekah McCabe, Head of Northern Ireland, Involve
The incoming Labour Government faces the challenge of navigating Northern Ireland’s unsettled post-Brexit political landscape. Restoring trust and goodwill will be essential, particularly in the context of unstable institutions, crumbling public services, and the lingering hurt sparked by last year’s Troubles Legacy Act. While the task ahead is significant, there are opportunities to reshape governance by embedding openness, participation, and deliberation into the core of decision-making.
Deliberative democracy offers a way to foster more inclusive and participatory processes, which can be particularly effective in Northern Ireland's divided society and fractured political institutions. By prioritising dialogue across differences, this approach ensures that the perspectives and insights of ordinary citizens are central to policy making, and results in policies that are more effective, equitable, and broadly accepted by the public (see Involve's Citizens' White Paper for more on why we need to change how policy is made).
Unfortunately, Northern Ireland has lagged behind its neighbours in embracing participatory and deliberative methods of governance. Between 2017 and 2024, while deliberative democracy flourished across Ireland, the UK, and Europe, Northern Ireland was left without a functioning government for five of those years. Recent research (see here and here) reveals that people are exhausted by the political instability and the persistent deadlock that stymies progress on crucial policies and public services. The cycle of draft policies and endless consultations without any concrete progress only deepens public frustration, reinforcing the perception that the current system is incapable of making decisions and is, as a result, failing to address the issues having a real impact on the everyday life of people living in NI.
What Northern Ireland needs are new, more inclusive mechanisms that can accelerate decision-making and ensure policies better reflect the needs and aspirations of its citizens. Although many of these issues fall under devolved authority, Labour has some avenues to promote more open, participatory, and deliberative governance in Northern Ireland.
- First and foremost, there is a lack of understanding, skills, and capacity in deliberative and participatory governance here, leading to an over-reliance on traditional written consultations and a reluctance to innovate with new methods. This can be addressed by investing in the capacity of the Northern Ireland Civil Service to skill-up, work more closely with expert-practitioners, and incorporate deliberative practices into policymaking.
- As a co-guarantor of the Belfast/Good Friday Agreement, Labour can play a key role in restoring and enhancing its structures, including reimagining the Civic Forum as a modern platform for citizen input and collaboration.
- Finally, the UK government can set an example by fostering greater transparency and moving beyond traditional consultation and calls for evidence towards deeper public participation in its decisions regarding Northern Ireland.
A UK government committed to these reforms would help stabilise and improve the effectiveness of devolved government in Northern Ireland, allowing the Assembly to catch up with its neighbours. Labour’s role now is to create the conditions for deliberative democracy by promoting dialogue, providing resources, and facilitating cooperation with Northern Ireland’s institutions.
Scotland
Dr Claire Bynner, Lecturer in Social Justice and Community Action, The University of Edinburgh
Scottish Labour has stated the need to push power into the regions of Scotland to empower communities and better support regional economic growth. While a fairer funding formula for local government and a Local Democracy Act sounds promising, it is not clear what this will mean in practice. Scotland is currently one of the most centralised states in Europe, with local governments operating across wide geographical disparities. A well cited example is Highland Council, which governs an area the size of Belgium. For meaningful public participation in Scotland, the new Labour government will need to extend its ambitions far beyond the creation of regional mayors and co-operation across regions, to address this void in local democracy.
Key to the success of participatory budgeting in Scotland has been improving the quality of dialogue and deliberation through relationship building in localities and direct engagement with the lived experience of poverty. In the ongoing cost-of-living crisis there is a need for an explicit focus on anti-poverty and a more localised, neighbourhood approach. The experience in Scotland has shown that high-quality deliberative processes at a local level depend on skilled public participation professionals working on the ground, building relationships and supporting institutions to embed new practices and innovations. This means providing training and support for citizens through grassroots community development projects, and enabling local groups and citizens to work on local issues in a more equal and collaborative partnership with council officers and other agencies. .
Wales
Jess Blair, Director, Electoral Reform Society, Cymru
With Labour having been in government in some shape or form for the entire 25 years of devolution in Wales, a UK Labour government across Offa's Dyke could well look at Wales for any examples of public participation they might follow.
Late last year saw the culmination of the Independent Commission on the Constitutional Future of Wales, a two year commission aimed at scoping the options for the future of Wales. This used a real mix of models and was a genuinely innovative process, comprising of Commission members representing varied expertise at a cross party level, an expert panel advising the Commission and a 'national conversation'.
That national conversation was a vital part of the Commission's work and comprised of a mix of public participation approaches; including citizen's panels across Wales, grants for organisations to engage their stakeholders who traditionally may have not fed into a process such as this, and street stalls.
This was a novel approach and demonstrated that people can play an integral part in constitutional discussions. It also showed the value of having multiple approaches that can work to engage a wider section of the population. The new UK Labour Government should look to Wales for this example on public involvement in a really complex issue.
The election of a new Labour Government presents a unique opportunity to deepen deliberative democracy in the devolved nations of the UK. Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales each have opportunities for democratic renewal that are specific to their contexts. By prioritising deliberation and deeper public engagement, Labour has the chance to create more open, transparent, and inclusive democratic processes that bring citizens closer to decision-making, promoting stability and better governance across the UK.