In his first major speech of the new political season, Prime Minister Gordon Brown told an audience of NCVO members how he saw the political landscape of Britain changing, and the role he saw the voluntary sector playing in civil renewal.

“I believe that the big challenges that we face as a country, from security, to climate change, to global competition, to the rising aspirations of individuals, to the desire for stronger, safer, more sustainable communities throughout our country, I believe that these challenges can no longer be solved by the old politics,” Brown said.

He presented three proposals which he said would reach beyond political parities and strengthen the link between “people and Parliament, citizens, communities and government”.

Firstly was a new system of ‘Citizens Juries’ to examine issues affecting communities and develop solutions to them. This would be followed by a ‘Citizens Summit’ tasked with formulating a British statement of values as proposed in the Green Paper on the future government of Britain.

Secondly was that representatives assembled from every constituency come together in a nationwide set of Citizens Juries held on one day which would look at a range of issues from crime and immigration, education, health, transport and public services.

And thirdly was to revive the idea of a Speaker's Conference to bring together all parties to look at issues that can only be dealt with on a cross-party basis. In addition he said that discussions were being held to arrange a sitting of the Youth Parliament in the House of Commons.

More specific to the third sector, Brown confirmed his interest in strengthening the Compact, and allowing charities to campaign.

He said: “…the renewal of the compact with the voluntary sector, the compact that I believe over the last 10 years has made a difference, is first of all to give more stability of funding to the voluntary sector, and I personally am very committed to the three year funding we announced that we want to make happen when we complete our Spending Review. “

Of campaigning he said: “I am aware that charities defined as charities have difficulties when they wish to advocate and put forward the views that they hold very strongly, and I do not personally believe that you can be an effective charity and community organisation if you see something on the ground, if you see something that needs to be changed, and somehow you are limited in the advocacy and your ability independently to speak out and say what is wrong.”

NCVO’s chief executive Stuart Etherington described campaigning as politics beyond party structures which engages thousands of citizens through letter writing, petition signing and demonstrations. “We are therefore delighted that the Prime Minister recognises that campaigning is at the heart of our work and look forward to discussing how we can play a greater role in engaging with local, national and international governments and make a positive difference to our world.”