MP Letter on the Farage Riots

xxxx MP

House of Commons

London SW11A 0AA

Dear xxxx

Congratulations on being sent to Parliament! 

Along with practically all of your constituents, I am concerned about the riots that took place in early August  in our cities, a clumsy and dangerous emotional outburst against immigration set in a background of deprivation and poor services in many communities. 

I would like to put the case here for the creation of a Citizens Assembly to look at the whole question of immigration, ranging from its causes in war, oppression, poverty and climate change right through to the question of optimising the integration of migrants into the British nation, and looking at the problems, real and perceived, that migration might cause to our nation. 

Citizens Assemblies (CA), as you know, are created by inviting thousands of citizens at random and refining those who respond down to about 100 individuals who make up as accurate a sample of the general population in terms of gender, age, social class, ethnicity etc  as possible. They are then given the full facts about the topic in a series of seminars, are helped to discuss the topic fully and constructively, and finally helped to make recommendations to Government. It is a tried and tested process, whose roots go back to the Roman Empire - in fact, Mary Beard has recently tweeted in favour of a CA on migration. They have been used successfully in Ireland, and a dozen other developed countries, including the UK, when the Climate Assembly reported in September 2020, although its existence and report was pretty much ignored by the Conservative media and Government. In 2023, the Labour Party was reportedly toying with the idea of CAs, though I cannot find a reference to them in their Manifesto.

The whole country is shocked by the violence on the streets that we have seen in August 2024, and challenges of this type may cause people to open up to constructive, radical solutions, and a Citizens Assembly is surely a promising way forward.

I hope that you will agree to consider the Citizens Assembly as a constructive approach to the challenges presented by the riots and by migration, and perhaps with others, will put it forward in the House. 

If you have any questions about it, I would be very happy to come in to a surgery for a discussion.

With very best wishes