John Bercow addresses Interfaith seminar on trust in society
The Council of Christians and Jews hosted the speaker of the House of Commons for a seminar discussing the ‘decline of trust in politics, business and wider society.’
On 10 February the seminar was held as part of the CCJ’s strategy focusing on education, dialogue and social action.
It was attended by over 100 figures from the Jewish, Christian and other faith communities, in addition to a number of acclaimed speakers.
Entitled “Trust and Rust, Is the decline of trust irreversible?”, the seminar covered the ‘perceived decline of trust in politics, business and wider society.’
The Speaker of the Commons, John Bercow told that audience: ‘Enhanced confidence is the basis for trust’ in the political system and that ‘the central challenge…is that the public does not have confidence in the institutions in which politics operates’.
Fellow panelist Baroness Onora O’Neill, who is Chair of the Equality and Human Rights Commission, emphasised a countering point. She stressed the need to reinforce “trustworthiness” rather than trust in society, as ‘the institutions we say we mistrust today are the very same as those we said we mistrusted in the past’.
The Chair of the Jewish Leadership Council Mick Davis said: ‘You will never build trust unless you are open and accountable and speak openly to people’.
The event was chaired by CCJ Chair, Bishop Michael Ipgrave, who commented that: ‘Every sphere [of society] has been marked by a decline in trust’.
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