The British state is at the core of political problems across the globe, author claims

The British state is at the centre of political problems across the globe. That’s according to the author Adam Ramsay, whose new book Abolish Westminster makes the case that the British state needs to be replaced with a new political system. He made the comments in an interview with Left Foot Forward as part of the series LFF Live.

In the interview, Ramsay explained why he had decided to write a book on the British state. He said: “I’m 41, so devolution happened when I was a child, a teenager, […] I remember it. But I’ve grown up with this sense that we have two different state systems, to some extent. We have the Scottish Parliament system, which has its problems, but kind of feels like it’s basically trying to govern in the interests of the people of the country. And then this totally absurd system at Westminster, which is what the book’s about, which just has never felt like that.

He went on to add: “I often find myself trying to explain to people in England that so many political problems in the UK – but even actually globally, when you think about British offshore territories and the way the British military functions and so on – are caused by the British state.

“And in a sense, by the way we inherited our state from the empire. We have a state that was built to run what was, in my dad’s lifetime, the biggest empire in human history. And we’ve never really modernised it and turned it into a sensible means for managing the affairs of people on this island, and so instead, it’s kind of been captured by a very narrow elite interest, and used for their interests, and not ours.”

You can get a copy of Abolish Westminster here.

Watch the full interview with Adam Ramsay here:

Chris Jarvis is head of strategy and development at Left Foot Forward