2O19 Tom Watson MP, giving A YEAR OF GROWTH a speech on gambling regulation Demos exists to bring people and politics Because we listen to people, and engage July 2019 closer together. At a time of great division, without prejudice to party lines, we design upheaval and outrage, we believe Britain can policies that can bring people together. rise to all the challenges facing us if we find a From tax to teaching, from care to consumer way to hold together. That means we need to protection: we champion ideas that can give do politics - and policy - very differently. all our citizens more power in their everyday lives. We’re not like other think tanks. We don’t lock ourselves up in Westminster and come Demos has always been a hub for innovation. up with solutions on our own. Everything we We get technology in a way that most in recommend has been co-designed with the Westminster do not. As technology upends citizens we work for: the people of Britain. our society, our economy and our politics, those skills are proving more vital than ever 2019 has been a year of huge growth - we’re before. nearly twice the size we were when I took over less than two years ago. With a team I’m incredibly excited about what 2020 of twenty, we’ve engaged with thousands of holds. We will be doing our own polling and citizens up and down the country, through public opinion research. We’ll be launching Rt Hon Nicky Morgan polling, focus groups, social media and new tools for online deliberation. We’ll interviews. We’ve taken on our first team generate ideas and campaign for change. I MP, Secretary of State members outside London, and are now hope you’ll join us. for DCMS discussing the running projects from Taunton to Kilmarnock, from Bradford to Great Yarmouth. future of the internet at Conservative Party We’ve hosted brilliant events with politicians from across the Conference spectrum, challenging them to think outside of party October 2019 politics to find lasting solutions, and bringing Polly Mackenzie citizens with lived experience here to Chief Executive Westminster to get their voices heard. Chuka Umunna MP, Polly Mackenzie, and Sir Vince Cable MP at a Demos Conversations event July 2019 2 3 FIGURE 1. POLITICAL DIVISION INDEX OUR VISION Nations need a ‘demos’: a way of being together, with a common sense of direction and identity. “A desire for compromise, Without that, we don’t have the basic solidarity on OF DEBATE + HEALTH EMPATHY which we build public services and the rule of law. It conversation and empathy doesn’t mean everyone needs to agree, or to be the for those who disagree with same. It’s about how we live side by side, how we disagree, and when we choose to compromise. us, still characterises the 2019 was yet another year of outrage, where that political attitudes of most sense of shared identity was missing. Three and British citizens.” a half years of political warfare over Brexit have created a nagging feeling that the hyperbole of AGREEMENT election time might be more than skin deep: that our The debates on Brexit and immigration were country is divided, from top to bottom - divided, and predictably divisive, but not devoid of empathy, maybe even irreconcilably so. implying there isn’t as much animosity between Leavers and Remainers as some have suggested. In our own election manifesto, we made the case “We need to build a new At Demos, our mission is to challenge that Topics like the NHS and climate change were sources for a more civil politics where we treat our political assumption - and help Britain come together. That’s of wide consensus among the population. On these opponents, and representatives, with respect. And kind of deliberative politics, why this year we published our first Political Division and most other issues, citizens perceive a healthier we argued for a better way of using technology, to Index, in partnership with our friends at Opinium. political debate. build a digital politics which unites people from all so our nations and peoples We wanted to measure not just whether people walks of life, instead of finding new ways to divide can come together to find were divided on the big issues, but where there was The results are cause for careful optimism but, us. We need to build a new kind of deliberative scope for common ground. primarily, for action. A desire for compromise and politics, so our nations and peoples can come collective answers to the big conversation, and empathy for those who disagree together to find collective answers to the big with us, still characterises the political attitudes of challenges we face. challenges we face.” most British citizens. But politicians and those who “Three and a half years of dominate our political discourse seem to focus on And that’s our mission for 2020. On those issues divisive topics and favour toxic over healthy debate. we identified as politically most toxic: we will help political warfare over Brexit We fear that this prominent method of division, find the common ground. On those issues where have created a nagging combined with a media environment geared to the the public is clear what they want, but desperate for outrageous and sensational, risks widening rifts in practical action: we will help design and champion Polly Mackenzie & feeling that our country is British society and reducing the effectiveness of change. Using our innovative research methods, divided and maybe even democratic debate. technological insight and expertise in public Tessa van Rens participation, our ambition for 2020 is to help shape irreconcilably so.” That’s why we need a new approach not just to Britain’s common path forward. campaigning, but to the way we govern Britain, to Political division - as we define it - is about far more help sow unity rather than division, consensus rather than disagreement. Disagreement can be really than controversy. healthy. It’s about the quality of the public debate. We looked at 10 issues, and scored each topic in four categories: agreement, salience, empathy towards the other side, and the health of the conversation. 4 5 ENVISAGING THE OUR RESEARCH WEB WE WANT The question of how to regulate the internet So we need to be proactive - get ahead of is almost as old as the internet - and as the innovation giants. Demos will facilitate a “Our research brings people together to discuss problems unanswered as it has ever been. In 2020, Demos transatlantic conversation between technology, will be working to measure and advocate for an government and the public that lays out a vision and shape solutions that reflect the lived experiences, views internet that strengthens liberal democracy. The for a web we want, identifies the path towards and concerns of real people.” election campaign has underlined just how far it, and then works to see it delivered. we have to go before we have a digital public commons that's fit for purpose. CASM at Demos has a unique understanding All of Demos’ research focuses on engaging the People Powered Planning found that a majority of technology and its impact on society. We’ve public, not just as research subjects but as decision- of people don’t feel at all involved in planning pioneered tools for research, we’ve explored makers too. We bring people together to discuss and housing decisions in their local area and “With a mix of policy, the outer boundaries of the dark web, we’ve problems and shape solutions that reflect the lived recommended that local planning authorities trial the dialogue and a granular designed policies on cryptocurrencies and experience, views and concerns of real people. And use of deliberative decision-making methods, such internet crime. Now we demand a web that we use these findings to develop policies which can as citizens’ assemblies, in the local planning process. understanding of regenerates the principles of human rights, change lives for the better. technology, the internet fundamental freedoms and democracy in Financial inclusion has been a strong theme of our the digital age, and in robust contrast to In 2019, Demos published almost 30 reports, across work this year, with Protected by Design looking into can be a place where unaccountable or authoritarian approaches to a range of policy areas, focusing where solutions are how protections can be built into financial services regulate and manipulate our online lives. We urgently needed, including labour markets, financial for people who are at risk of fraud, for example democracy is defined for believe that with a mix of policy, dialogue and inclusion, social care, housing and communities. through age-related or mental health conditions. We the 21st century.” a granular understanding of technology, the In total, our reports have produced more than 200 also published the inaugural The Good Credit Index, internet can be a place where democracy is policy recommendations, which we have taken to an ongoing project which mapped the availability defined for the 21st century. policymakers, parliamentarians and the business of credit across the UK for the first time, making In the coming years, a patchwork of community. recommendations on how access to better quality national and international legislation credit can be improved. will set standards and processes Some have been bold: our report Pathways from aimed at holding the web to Alex Krasodomski-Jones Poverty, on Jobcentre Plus, made a number of We start 2020 with some exciting and innovative account on both sides of radical proposals to address the DWP’s failure projects.