How “citizens’ assemblies” can help settle the big Brexit questions

It is rare that something can bring together political figures as divergent as Stronger In chief Will Straw and Ukip’s Suzanne Evans, Remain’s Chuka Umunna and Labour Leave’s John Mills. It’s rarer still for them to come together on the issue of Brexit.

The referendum last June decided that the UK will leave the European Union. But debates since have given voters little opportunity to develop—never mind express—clear views on the form they want Brexit to take.

On the other side of the equation are the politicians. The EU barely came up in June’s election, yet parties are trying to speak with total authority on major constitutional and economic questions.

As we move forward, politicians and negotiators need insight into where public priorities really lie. Without clear signals from voters, it is a guessing game for all involved. Polls can offer some help—but it is worth looking for other solutions, too.

What is beginning to unite these two sides—the need for citizens to become fully informed about the options on the table, and the need to politicians to have a clear view on what voters really want—is a new approach.

This weekend, citizens from across the UK are gathering in Manchester to take part in the first “Citizens’ Assembly” on Brexit, in a bid to put voters’ voices at the centre of the EU debate.

The Assembly brings together a randomly selected group of people designed to be broadly representative of the country, to learn about the options for Brexit, discuss their own priorities, hopes and fears—and make recommendations for what Brexit should look like. It has secured high-profile backing from across the so-called “Brexit divide.

Citizens’ Assemblies are not a new way of settling big questions—they are being used across Europe and North America to formulate proposals on key policy and constitutional issues often associated with referendums. Ireland’s Constitutional Convention, based on the citizens’ assembly model, recently led the way towards the legalisation of same-sex marriage.

A similar model has been tried in the UK, too—in October and November 2015, two pilot assemblies were run in Sheffield and Southampton, to ask how new regional powers can be established in a form supported by the people who actually live there. Rather than all the decisions being made behind closed doors, local citizens had real input. They defied cynics in showing that when asked, voters jump at the opportunity to get involved in the detail of democratic questions that relate to their lives.

If that’s true for devolution, it’s even more so for Brexit. This Assembly will have around 45 members, selected with the help of pollsters at ICM to reflect the diversity of the UK’s population in terms of gender, age, place of residence, social class, ethnicity, and attitudes to Brexit.

Most striking is the response from voters themselves. Martin Boon, Director of ICM, described himself as “stunned” by the levels of interest: “We were expecting low level commitment, but over half of our 5,000 sample were interested in attending, and over a thousand confirmed they could and would like to attend.” The appetite is there to engage in the nitty gritty of Britain’s departure from the EU.

Scrupulous balance attracts trust from both politicians and the public—the speakers and experts represent all sides and none. As a result, there’s a chance to have a genuinely balanced approach to deciding what Leave looks like.

Amid so much confusion around Brexit, a platform to calmly learn, discuss and decide on the best way forward as citizens is more essential than ever. And the huge constitutional, economic and political decisions to be made in the next two years can’t be decided in secret. Many politicians are now acknowledging this too.

It’s a mutually beneficial process. Voters are starting to speak up on everything from the single market to borders and tariffs—and they will be heard, by politicians eager for settled positions in their own oft-divided parties.

Now the Citizens’ Assembly model is established, we can see the beginning of a more responsive, deliberative democracy—not one where political engagement ends on polling day. We all stand to benefit. And you never know—next time, you could wind up being invited.