Asked to come up with an example, he points to the Red Tape Challenge, which has received more than 28, 000 comments since it was launched by the prime minister last year and which has a "social media element".

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Mr Etzioni believes that the stress placed by developed Western societies on individual rights has come at the price of undermining the notion of responsibility to a wider community a key element in Mr Blair's disagreements with the judiciary since becoming prime minister.

ECONOMIST: Bagehot

But Tory former deputy prime minister Lord Howe of Aberavon warned there could be a loss of expertise and independence if an elected element was introduced.

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