Dear John,
I’m Joe Sousek - and I’m writing to introduce myself having recently joined the Open Britain team.
The country faces so many crises, but at the heart of them all is a broken democratic system. People feel they have no say in how the country is run - and they don’t trust politicians to put the public first. The Prime Minister showed some recognition of this in his conference speech, identifying not only a “financial black hole” and a “societal black hole”, but also a “political black hole”.
As Mark pointed out in his email yesterday, Keir Starmer set out plans to address the first of these two deficits, seeking to boost the economy and deliver national renewal through what he calls “mission-driven government”. Whatever our views on individual policies, we must all hope he succeeds in delivering this overall aim.
But when it comes to restoring trust in our democracy and fixing the foundations of a broken politics, the government does not have a plan. Such a plan would require, at a minimum, commitments to electoral reform, to eliminating unaccountable money and influence, and to countering malicious misinformation. In the absence of a government plan, it falls instead to Open Britain’s mission-driven campaign to push this agenda forward in this new parliament.
In the last parliament, I coordinated the campaign for electoral reform within the Labour movement. We made historic progress, taking Proportional Representation from niche interest to amongst the biggest issue campaigns in the party’s history - and winning the overwhelming backing of local Labour parties, members, trade unions, and annual conference.
Now, I’m delighted to have the opportunity to apply my skills,  experience and determination to Open Britain’s campaign for a renewed democracy. This means driving and enabling the work of the recently formed All-Party Parliamentary Group for Fair Elections: building pressure in Westminster, linking up parliamentary work with public campaigns, and collaborating to mutually reinforce efforts across partner organisations.
And it means playing an active role in building public demand for fixing our political system: encouraging the government to take the right steps, holding it to account where it falls short, and building real and powerful pressure for change.
I’m excited about the opportunities we have - and pleased to be joining such a great team. A renewed democracy is there to be won. Open Britain is on a mission to win it.
All the best,
