The follow-up to May 3rd continues tomorrow as Citizens UK Executive Director Neil Jameson attends a round-table with David Cameron and Nick Clegg on the ‘Big Society’. This is an exciting development – and one we hope will lead to further progress on the issues raised at the Assembly.
This is a key campaign for the congregations in which Jellicoe interns are placed – one which stands very clearly in the tradition of Fr Basil Jellicoe . The Citizens UK Assembly secured a Community Land Trust on the Olympic site from all three party leaders – while locally, TELCO won backing from Tower Hamlets Council for a Trust on the site of St Clements’ Hospital. Here’s the video that made the case:
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vI5AdobKA84&hl=en_GB&fs=1&]
The initial Coalition Agreement between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats includes two of the key items from Citizens UK’s people’s manifesto: expansion of the mutual banking sector (promised at the May 3rd Assembly by all three party leaders) and an end to child detention (promised only by Nick Clegg).
The Citizens UK Assembly and CTC from Contextual Theology Centre on Vimeo.
CTC has launched a short Vimeo slideshow on last week’s assembly. In the midst of all the coalition horse-trading, our partner congregations are now in relationship with all the main parties – so whoever is on the Government benches, they will be attending future Citizens UK’s assemblies, answering to the promises made on May 3rd.
Here are the clips on BBC of each Party Leader’s response to the Living Wage:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/election_2010/8658615.stm
And an excellent piece by CTC Fellow Dr Luke Bretherton on the implications of the assembly for our understanding of politics, faith and the ‘common good’
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/comment/faith/article7116843.ece
The leader’s responses to Citizens UK’s people’s manifesto:
Also, Jellicoe intern Ian Bhullar and other members of the Citizens UK ‘Twitterati’
UPDATE: More coverage in the Spectator (“Brown’s best speech of the campaign”) and Mirror (PM is “a signed up citizen”) – while Michael White in the Guardian says this was a “night that reaffirmed democracy”
It will take a while for the impact to sink in, but here are some of the key achievements of yesterday’s assembly – and links to media coverage.
The leaders of all the major party agreed…
– to be held to account by Citizens UK – in assemblies and round-table meetings – during the next Parliament
– a Community Land Trust on the Olympic Park after 2012
– caps on exploitative lending and a stronger mutual banking sector
– Labour committed to a Living Wage for Whitehall workers – something the Tories are also looking to fund
– Labour and the Tories committed to reviewing the practice of detaining children seeking sanctuary
– LibDems committed to ending child detention – and to a one-off earned amnesty for undocumented migrants
Today’s Guardian includes Patrick Wintour on front page (‘Battered PM finds his voice’); Allegra Stratton on p. 4 (‘Brown triumphs in unofficial fourth leadership debate’) and Marina Hyde on p. 5 (‘Real people, excruciating stories and a bit of recycling’). The Telegraph has a sketch on p.8, emphasising the role of faith in the event – ‘Son of the manse in his element among the righteous’. Online, there’s good coverage from the Finanical Times and Reuters.
The Contextual Theology Centre sponsored this historic event, and our officers, interns and partner churches were heavily involved:
– Fr Sean Connolly (CTC Assistant Director) was interviewed on Channel Four News as he led a pre-assembly study group on our new book Faithful Citizens
– Bethan Lant (St Mary’s, Cable Street) was one of the co-chairs and Fr Rob Wickham (St John-at-Hackney) introduced the assembly
– CTC Tutor Capt Nick Coke (Stepney Salvation Army) told the story of the CitySafe campaign – a key project of Jellicoe Interns
– Dr Luke Bretherton (CTC Fellow) handled some of the key public negotiations with David Cameron
– CTC Director Revd Angus Ritchie spoke alongside low-paid cleaners from the Treasury to present the case for the Living Wage to Gordon Brown – and Senior Tutor Revd Adam Atkinson (St Paul’s Shadwell) handled some of the key public negotiations
– CTC Fellow Mgr John Armitage (St Anne’s, Custom House) gave the final, rousing send-off to the 2500-strong assembly
Tomorrow afternoon’s assembly will be streamed live on BBC News 24 from 3pm. If you’re not able to attend, then tune in.
David Cameron praised the Living Wage as ‘hugely attractive’ in today’s interview with Andrew Marr – in a discussion about tomorrow’s assembly. See it here, 50 minutes into the programme.
Hours before the final TV debate, Citizens UK confirmed that Cameron and Clegg will all be attending a historic Assembly in central London. The PM has also been invited. The 2500-person event on Monday will be the last at which the party leaders can all make their case to the people. Uniquely, they will do it by responding to Citizens UK’s ‘People’s Manifesto’ – which calls for a Living Wage, Community Land Trusts, a cap on interest rates, an earned amnesty for undocumented migrants and an end to the detention of children seeking sanctuary.
The manifesto arises from Listening Campaigns and Delegates Assemblies across the Citizens network – in which Jellicoe interns and Contextual Theology Centre staff have played a key part. The Centre is proud to be a sponsor of the Assembly.
For more news on the Assembly, sign up for our Twitter feed at http://twitter.com/theologycentre
Jellicoe interns are involved in planning a major Citizens UK event in the week of the General Election… we’d hoped to be able to make an announcement by now – but it looks as if it will later in the week before we can go public with the news. You can also keep up to date with developments by following us on Twitter
THURSDAY MORNING UPDATE: The event will be on the afternoon of Monday, 3rd May in Methodist Central Hall, with leading political figures. We’re waiting for Citizens UK to make a formal announcement, probably later on today. We will blog the news – and st information on TV coverage – as soon as we have it.
