MPs and Peers gather to hear about the urgent need for Defensive Constitutional Reform
On 29 June 2026, the MPs Clive Lewis (L), Roz Savage (LD) and Richard Quigley (L) co-sponsored an important cross-party discussion in Parliament on Future Proofing Democracy: Stopping the Far Right through Constitutional Reform.
The session was informed by two important reports, Defensive Constitutional Reform and Democracy on the Brink.
The expert panel on hand to discuss the issues raised by those reports with the assembled Peers and MPs was:
Professor Andrew Blick: Professor of Politics and Contemporary History at King’s College London, and co-director of the Centre for British Democracy. He is co-author with Lord Hennessy of Could it Happen Here? The Day a Prime Minister Refuses to Resign.
Tom Brake: the CEO of Unlock Democracy. He previously spent 22 years as a Member of Parliament, where he was active in pushing for democratic reform, including extending Freedom of Information (FOI) laws to private companies like Serco and Capita when they undertake work for the public sector, for votes at 16, and in defending UK elections from foreign interference.
Mark Kieran: the CEO of Open Britain. He is a passionate advocate for better democracy. He has had past roles in local government, Whitehall, and Parliament. Mark’s goal is to help build a new democracy with fair elections that are free from dark money and disinformation, and in which all votes count.
Professor Christina Pagel: Professor of Operational Research at University College London. She has a background in mathematics and physics and has used these analytical skills in analysing health issues. More recently, in 2025, she launched the Trump Action Tracker, a comprehensive database of actions which tend towards authoritarianism.
Mark Thomas: the Founder of The 99% Organisation – an all-volunteer group dedicated to protecting the UK’s social contract: safeguarding its democracy, ending mass impoverishment and protecting key public services.
Unfortunately, we are not able to record events in Parliament, but we did record the public webinar we held the previous week which covered a lot of the same ground, and you can see that here to get a flavour. If you prefer to read, the launch event for the two reports, sponsored by Richard Quigley also summarised the reports, although the subsequent discussion was quite different.
The MPs present were united in their view that urgent action is needed. So we will be following up with further parliamentary interventions in the coming weeks and months.