Citizens’ assemblies are a dreadful idea

Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour party is a government-in-waiting desperately searching for ideas. It says much about the leader of the opposition that arguably the biggest proposal he’s put forward comes not from him but from his chief of staff, Sue Gray. She, it seems, is enthused about the idea of citizens’ assemblies, and wants more of them to look into issues such as constitutional reform, devolution and housing. That is one step on from Tony Blair’s focus groups, with randomly selected members of the public placed one step closer to power and adopting the role of government advisers.

Gray points to Ireland as a model, but a citizens’ assembly has in fact been tried before in Britain. In 2019 one was set up by parliamentary committee as a sop to the protest group Extinction Rebellion, which had demanded a citizens’ assembly on climate justice.