About Us
The Independent Constitutionalists UK started as a group of open-minded people, from a wide variety of backgrounds and occupations, convinced that a national conversation about new ways of doing politics and managing the economy in the UK was long overdue. They try not to be ideological. They certainly don’t want to become a political party. They simply believe that our country, our species and our planet deserve a better deal than we are getting (or likely to get) from the current unsustainable, growth-based system. Their resulting Declaration of Purpose sets out how that better deal might be achieved.
Members of IC-UK’s Outreach Working Group include:
Nicholas Dennys
Nick has been an antiquarian bookseller for 40 years, first on market stalls, then co-founding the Gloucester Road Bookshop, which he ran for 26 years. He is now Chair of the Land Research Trust. He believes that, just as the printing press overturned ideas and those who ruled by them – precipitating the Reformation and early democracy – so digital technology exponentially widens ownership of ideas, demanding new democratic ways of expressing them. Citizen Assemblies and the deliberation they afford will be vital to hopes of swift recovery from climate change, poverty and medical catastrophes.
Fred Harrison
Fred quit journalism (as chief reporter of a Fleet Street Sunday newspaper) to work full-time on fiscal reform. In the 1990s he devoted 10 years to trying to help Russia’s policy-makers to construct a morals-based market economy, and is now formulating the optimum strategies for addressing existential social crises (the results will appear in his forthcoming book, Free Riding).
Evan Parker
Although a professional physicist, Evan’s passion is how can we make our society a whole lot better. He is an activist and is currently authoring two books on (i) re-inventing democracy and (ii) transforming education. He has spun-out two companies on solar cell technology and quantum sensors and is Emeritus Professor at the University of Warwick.
Brian Wills
From editing Agriculture and Land Use in Ghana in 1962 to retiring as head of Information at an international agricultural research station in India, Brian has pursued an editorial career among tropical development scientists. Also, as a personal concern, he has worked with NGOs that seek to reduce unjust inequalities.
Carol Evans
Anti-poverty campaigner previously involved in community-based research to find solutions to rural deprivation and influence policy making at European, national and Peak District level, Carol’s activities included work with the All-Party Parliamentary on Poverty – enabling people experiencing deprivation to meet with ministers and senior civil servants. She is a Trustee of the European Anti-Poverty Network, England, and campaigns to make rural transport accessible to all.
Barnaby Flynn
Barnaby has spent the last fifteen years street campaigning inviting people to consider the systemic root-causes of issues that concern them. He finds seeking out common ground and understanding with people who have different values to his own particularly satisfying. Barnaby founded Global People Power, is collaborating with the Global Democracy Initiative, has lobbied MPs with Extinction Rebellion, Positive Money and Simpol and has been involved with Occupy Democracy and Climate Camp. He is currently working with Flatpack Democracy, IC-UK and Democracy Earth to promote Earth Citizenship identity and to create local, national and global Citizens’ Assemblies to tackle problems at appropriate scale.
Michael Mulvey
A former Conference Interpreter (from Spanish & French) to the United Nations, its specialized agencies and intergovernmental organizations worldwide, and a professional translator, Michael’s experience has led him to see democracy as “process” rather than “product” and kindled his current interest in language and communication as tools for consensus building. He is the IC-UK Outreach Coordinator.
Ed Straw
Ed has experienced government from every angle: as citizen and consumer, as adviser to several government ministers, chair of Demos and Relate, a specialist on government task forces, consultant on both the Conservative and Labour government’s public sector reforms, and as a ‘moderniser’ for the UK Labour party. His new book (with Ray Ison) is on governance for the biosphere. As a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers he was a global and UK board director. He is a Visiting Research Fellow at the Open University’s Applied Systems Thinking in Practice group.
How we work
Citizens who support the principles and concepts set out in the IC-UK Declaration are placed on a mailing list as associates. The IC-UK Outreach Working Group (OWG) meets regularly to develop and promote our initiative’s message, principles and concepts as posted on this website. Written contributions by associates to the work of the OWG are welcome and encouraged.
An Outreach Coordinator appointed by the OWG is responsible for publishing the agenda before each meeting. At the beginning of meetings, participants select a Facilitator and a Recorder. Conduct of business follows a procedure of shared governance with decision-making by consensus. After each meeting, the Recorder circulates a record of all agreed texts and action to be taken. In between meetings the Coordinator is the main IC-UK contact and ensures any response and work undertaken is agreed by all OWG participants.