About
Nothing like this has been tried before. We have set out the process in detail below but we don’t know what the response will be and exactly how it will work. So we may need to tweak the process slightly. But we wont do that without signalling any changes and getting comments.
To be effective we think the policies selected should tick as many of the following boxes as possible:
- Mix populism with principle
- Be both sellable and workable
- Mix achievability in the short, medium and long term, addressing current policy agenda and looking into the future as far as you want
- Be prefigurative i.e. symbolise the kind of society we want to live in
- Balance spending with raising revenue
- Provide a sense of electoral analysis by appealing to key coalitions and constituencies
- Help build social democratic institutions and organisations e.g. unions, local government, community groups etc
- Tell its own story e.g. rail in common ownership – speaks to market failure and privatisation failure, the need for a holistic approach to public services, fairness agenda in terms of fares, climate change, and democratisation if we get a new model right.
- Be relevant across the UK
- Mix what people can do, what civil society can do and what the democratic state can do
The Process:
- Any organisation or individual can submit an idea. There is no limit to the number of ideas that an organisation or individuals can submit, but more than one is likely to effect the chance of gaining votes.
- Submission can only be made on the Compass website in the forms provided. If anyone does not have access to the internet then they can request a submission form from the Compass office.
- Once submissions are made they will posted on the site for comment by Compass members and others.
- Where possible, meetings will be held around the country to discuss the policy ideas.
- Organisations and individuals submitting policy ideas can contact each other and re-present merged policies – giving themselves a better chance of gaining votes.
- The panel of experts will post their opinion on the proposals.
- Submission can then be amended and resubmitted before being discussed and debated for a final time.
- Compass members will then be asked to vote on the proposals.
- The two top policies in each values basket will then become the campaign priorities for Compass.
Timetable (submissions are now closed):
- Monday 1 December 2008
Launch of the competition and submissions invited along with comments on the site when posted - Monday 16th March 2009
Submissions closed - Monday 6th April 2009
Submissions finalised - Monday 27th April 2009
Voting starts - Monday 11th May 2009
Voting concluded - Saturday 13th June 2009
Results announced