Time for fixed term parliaments?
Cameron: Anger and suspicion
The Electoral Reform Society is a voluntary organisation that campaigns for a better democracy, particularly through changes to our electoral system.
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The expenses scandal has dented politicians rather than politics, a politics.co.uk survey has found. |  |
MPs aren't the only ones scuttling furtively around the corridors of parliament. The peers of the realm are looking pretty shifty too. | |
Tuesday, 26, May 2009 06:16
By Ian Dunt
David Cameron has promised to "look seriously" at implementing fixed term parliaments if the Tories come to power, as part of an unprecedented package of Conservative reforms.
The promise comes as the momentum behind wide-reaching democratic reform received a boost from several high-profile Cabinet members, who called for a radical overhaul of the way British politics is conducted.
Health secretary Alan Johnson – still the favourite to lead Labour if Gordon Brown is removed from the top job – called for the current first-past-the-post system to be swapped for Alternative Vote Plus, as suggested by the 1998 Jenkins Commission.
John Denham, universities secretary, confirmed that the higher echelons of government have seen the need for drastic reform when he called for a referendum on Britain's voting system at the next election.
"One of the ways we can reconnect politicians with the voters is to increase the power of the voters," he told the Independent.
"Letting people choose the electoral system would be a huge step forward."
Comment: Reform must begin at the ballot box
Former deputy Labour leader has also broken a lifetime of opposition to electoral reform by supporting calls for proportional representation.
Hattersley backs electoral reform
Meanwhile, climate secretary Ed Miliband, used a speech at the Hay festival to outline how parliament should change, including an end to the tradition of referring to MPs as honourable and right honourable gentlemen.
Mr Cameron outlined his vision in a sweeping article for the Guardian today, writing: "We need to look seriously at the immense power prime ministers wield through their ability to call an election whenever they want.
"If we want parliament to be a real engine of accountability, we need to show it's not just the creature of the executive."
Other proposals include:
- Allowing backbench MPs to select the chairs and members of select committees.
- Giving MPs free votes during the committee stage of bills and allowing them to decide the timetable of bills.
- Allowing local councils to reverse Whitehall decisions through the test of 'competence', whereby local authorities can raise money to keep services open which have been ordered to close.
- Publishing the expenses of public servants earning over £150,000.
- Reforming the use of royal prerogative available to the prime minister which gives hi the opportunity to make sweeping changes in the name of the monarch. Mr Brown is already making significant changes in this area.
- Sending test alerts on the progress of bills.
The Tory leader framed the proposals as a response to the resentment felt towards the political establishment in Britain.
"The anger, the suspicion and the cynicism – yes with politics and politicians, but with so much else besides – are the result of people's slow but sure realisation that they have very little control over the world around them, and over much that determines whether or not they'll live happy and fulfilling lives."
The Tory leader later repeated the points at a speech to the Open University in Milton Keynes, after which justice secretary Jack Straw called into question how far Mr Cameron would go with his suggestion he would reform parliamentary terms.
Talking to the BBC, he said: "Mr Cameron is very guarded indeed in what he says about that.
"He said it should be considered. I agree with that, the difficulty is how it operates in a parliamentary - as opposed to a presidential - system."
But details of MPs' expenses continued to dominate the political news agenda today, with the Telegraph publishing more details of Cabinet members using taxpayer funds for personal tax advice.
Miliband dragged into new expenses row