Over at The Observer, Nick Clegg argues, after a tumultuous week in politics, that the public must be given more power than the politicians. Here’s an excerpt:
We are in the eye of the perfect storm: an economic crisis followed by a total collapse of public faith in politicians. One way or another, MPs’ self-serving expenses will now, thankfully, be changed for good. But this must be a moment for fundamental change, not just tinkering to eliminate the worst excesses of the past. The uncomfortable truth is that these revelations are merely the tip of an iceberg – our whole political system must be revamped.
We should start from first principles. Power belongs to citizens, not politicians. That simple fact must be written down in a short constitution setting out what rights people enjoy and making clear the subservience of Parliament to the people. A constitutional convention, overseen by 100 randomly selected voters, should be convened to draw it up.
We must clean up expenses through Sir Christopher Kelly’s independent inquiry. I’ve written to the other party leaders to urge them to pledge – now – to accept his recommendations in full. … I’d create a “recall” system: a small percentage of constituents should be able to force a byelection on any MP suspended for wrongdoing.
We must also cut back the size and power of the Whitehall state, eliminating central bureaucracy and giving new freedoms, including money-raising powers, to local communities. The over-centralised bureaucratic state is the corollary of an overbearing executive and a neutered Parliament. All must change.
Finally, but fundamentally, we need to give people a proper say in who governs the country with fair votes. No government should be able to secure total power with the support of just one out of every five people.
You can read Nick’s article in full HERE.
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9 Comments
*Dances jig of joy*
NOW we’re cookin’.
Agreed. This combined with calling for the Speaker’s resignation is meaningful progress.
However I’m sceptical how a recall would work under FPTP.
For instance, my MP received the votes of only 30% of the electorate — how many of the other 70% would need to sign a petition?
Nick Clegg on the front foot today, in `The Observer’ and the Andrew Marr programme with his resolute determination to reform this broken Parliament.
Mr Clegg has said that he understands voters anger and that this Parliament will go down in history as a `rotten Parliament’.
Therefore, it is necessary and expedient to make the changes and get rid of the bad M.P.s by holding them accountable to their Constituencies.
He also stated unequivocally, that Westminster must be transparent and accountable and the pivotal figure is in the office and role of Mr Speaker, whom must be a reformist to his finger tips.
Parliament has been engulfed by this crisis and has not seen anything like it for generations.
Constitutional Reform is required that goes further than the immediate `M.P.s Expenses’ reform.
Mr Clegg rated the upper House as an absurd anachronism.
He strongly hinted that the upper House must be brought into line for the 21stC for a modern electorate.
On the question of why should voters support the L/D in the Euro Elections.
1.The weather does not stop at Dover and we all should feel stronger working together.
2.Operation Koala brought to criminal prosecution a number of international Mafia gangsters, responsible for enslaving a large number of women, into sex workers in the UK. These women are now free again as a result of international inter force police co-operation in Europe.
3.Solving the `Credit Crunch’ depends on European and international help.
4.The task to fight and combat `Climate Change’ means working with the best Liberal intent of the new European Parliament.
I would add that the greater alliance of the ALDE Liberal Team in Europe will unite action, to reduce the encroaching BNP and their racial prejudices,Holocaust deniers and those whipping up dissent against all Minorities.
The BNP must be exposed as anathema,to democracy and the `M.P. Expenses Scandal’ may have diverted public attention
Liberalism and Human Rights have already been sorely threatened in areas like Millwall,Oldham ,Burnley and Loughton, in Essex.
Their their hold at the edge of the vast majority of decent minded liberal public spirited citizens must be defeated on June 4th.
very good……..and whilst we are at it, can we also have a re-democratisation of our local government?
the continued drive of more and more power and influence into the hands of fewer and fewer elected representatives needs to change……..oh, and let’s not forget the quangos!
“NOW we’re cookin’.”
I wish I could agree, but I can’t. Clegg is still way out of touch, and it shows.
This is NOT the time to be pushing things like the “fair votes” agenda (or, indeed, an ambition to shrink Whitehall). The sub-text of Clegg’s article is “Let’s exploit this crisis to gain partisan advantages for the Lib Dems”. And that is not what the public want to hear!
What the public want to hear is contrition, not starry-eyed promotion of those brilliant utopian ideas on which your party owns the patent rights. It was Cameron who hit something like the right tone, by giving his errant MPs a b*ll*cking. That is why the Observer poll today found that 57% said Cameron had handled it best, only 11% said that Clegg had.
So there we are. The Tory party, which has the worst sleaze record of all the parties, is the party that seems to be winning the battle for public opinion. Not a triumph for the presentational skills of Clegg or Brown!
No, the reason why it appears that Cameron handled it best is because the release of the information is being handled by the Telegraph and because Cameron’s press office is much better connected (all those old Etonians). It is pure press warfare on the part of the privileged, owning classes.
Cameron’s braying arrogance has been dressed up as “leadership” and the public, alas, has swallowed it.
@David Allen: The reason David Cameron got good marks for handling the expenses scandal is that his party had a scandal to deal with; Lib Dem MPs have not committed any of the worst abuses (though sadly some have had their snouts in the trough). David Cameron took tough action because he had to. If he was so good at dealing with the abuse of taxpayers’ money why wasn’t he pushing for transparency as the Lib Dems have been for a long time?
And surely the safe seats of the FPTP system are part of the problem – MPs with large majorities have proved much less inclined to pay back their outrageous claims than those in marginals. If all MPs were in effect in marginal seats (as in an STV system) they would not dare to be so cavalier.
Fundamentally, the Lib Dems have been in the right on this one. It should have given us a huge boost to our poll ratings, but hasn’t. We need urgently to consider why and how our communications strategy doesn’t seem to be working.
Try recognising that your enemy might possibly have got something right. It’s not his braying ability, it’s not his access to the media, it has nothing to do with Eton, this time anyway. It’s his emotional intelligence.
It’s really quite simple. When you’re in the doghouse, be humble. When you’ve been caught with your fingers in the cream, don’t go boasting about your long-term plans to reform the dairy farm. Think, dammit, about your public. If you can’t do that, why be in politics?
And by the way, I’m a lifelong Tory hater, I know Cameron is a duplicitous swine, but that doesn’t make him incompetent!