Voluntary organisations ‘a danger to democracy’
By amtadmin • Nov 27th, 2008 • Category: NewsThe former editor of the Times, Simon Jenkins, has warned of a “dangerous” tendency to see participation in voluntary organisations as a substitute for democracy.
In the annual Hinton lecture, the new chairman of the National Trust said that successive governments had removed real power from local councils and started consulting stakeholders such as professional groups, lobbyists and voluntary organisations.
“They say people don’t like local councils and that the new participatory democracy is civil society. I find this very dangerous. Britain is unique in the way it has eroded local participatory democracy,” he said
“We have lost this link between people and elected representatives through the ballot, and the manifestation of what I’m objecting to is you – the voluntary sector. You are the victors, local government is the vanquished.”
Further information at: Jenkins lecture
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