Labour Considers Changes in Government

Prime Minister Gordon Brown and Labour are seeking several changes in government, among them a change in the country's electoral system, a rearrangement of the composition and power of the House of Lords, and the creation of a written constitution by 2015, the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.

Mr Brown said that the switch to the proposed Alternative Vote system, which would replace the first-past-the-post system which has been practiced in Britain for centuries, could be part of a "new politics" which would restore public trust in Parliament and its members in the wake of last year's expenses scandal.

Brown today confirmed that he will campaign for a move to AV - under which voters rank candidates in numerical order, rather than simply placing an X on the ballot paper, a system reminiscent of proportional representation - in the referendum, which he said should be held by October 2011. However, Parliament must first approve the referendum before sending it out to the people, a process that could be laborious and troublesome for the passage of the new system. It will most likely vote before its break beginning on June 3rd.

Despite the popularity of the proposed electoral change, opposition exists to the reforms. Conservatives accused the Prime Minister of wanting to "fiddle the electoral system" in order to cling on to power, while Labour backbencher Tom Harris, an opponent of electoral reform, claimed a majority of Labour MPs wanted to stick with first-past-the-post voting.

But he said, if there was a whipped vote next week, then the "vast majority" of Labour MPs would probably support the Government.

Brown also confirmed that a draft Bill to create a democratically accountable House of Lords, which would, among other changes, eliminate all permanently reserved hereditary seats, will be published within the next few weeks.

Brown said that "a modern democracy cannot tolerate power to initiate and revise legislation being held forever by those without a mandate for the people". There is "simply no space" for a hereditary principle in Parliament, he says, which would be removed by legislation to prevent the appointment of new hereditary peers.

As part of moves towards the creation of a written constitution by the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta in 2015, Mr Brown announced that he had asked Cabinet Secretary Sir Gus O'Donnell to codify the unwritten rules governing the operation of central government.

In a speech to the Institute for Public Policy Research in London, Mr Brown said the public had been "rightly outraged" by the expenses scandal, and change was needed to restore trust in politics.

While Labour had already taken great steps through devolution, the introduction of freedom of information legislation, the creation of an independent Bank of England and a Supreme Court and the removal of most hereditary peers from the Lords, Mr Brown said he was "frustrated" that the process had not gone further.

Now was the time for "a radical, modern, open and democratic agenda to change the way our country governs itself", he said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/gordon-brown-to-ditch-firstpastthepost-vote-system-1886907.html