Changing the system
I agree that first and foremost people want the system to be cleaned up by reforming MPs expenses, but I think we need to go much further. Democracy mustn’t be taken for granted. It needs to be continually reformed to make sure it reflects the needs of modern society. Right now, I don’t think it does so here are my proposals for change:
Our voting system
I firmly believe we should move to a system with more proportional representation. But this is an issue that needs considering carefully. I don’t want to see a system which produces the sort of distorted results we saw in the European elections, where the BNP gained 17% of the representation in Yorkshire and the Humber with little over 9% of the total votes cast. I also think it’s important to keep the local constituency link in place.
House of Lords
Like Britain, most modern democracies have a two-chamber Parliament. Around the world ‘Upper Houses’ play important roles in developing laws and strengthening the accountability of Governments. Our House of Lords has to change. We need to get rid of the remaining hereditary peers, as the Government is planning to do, and I believe we need to move much faster towards a 100% publically elected House of Lords.
Votes at 16
Its 40 years since the voting age was reduced from 21 to 18 years. I think we should look hard at the demands of campaigners calling for a reduction of the voting age to 16. People aged 16 and 17 face big decisions in their lives and are affected by Government policies like every other adult. I think there’s a very strong case for giving them right to vote to involve them in our democratic system.
Giving People Rights
We’re one of the few countries in the world without a written constitution. I think this should change, but not just by the decisions of politicians. We should hold a national constitutional debate, involving people throughout the UK, to agree on a written constitution which enshrines people’s rights, defines the power of the Executive and places a responsibility on all public bodies to consult people on all major decisions that affect them locally.
Bringing decisions closer to people
In today’s complex world, decisions that affect our lives can appear to be increasingly remote. To change this, I believe that wherever they can decisions should be brought closer to people. That’s why I supported plans for more regional government which I think would counter balance the dominance of London and the South East. It’s also why I think more power should be devolved from the centre at Westminster down to local government. Local issues should be dealt with by local politicians working with the people that elected them . But we can't solve the big problems, like tackling climate change and fixing the world's economy, on our own. We need to work through the European Union, strengthen the United Nations and build better international co-operation. And we need to ensure these transnational institutions are more transparent and better at communicating with us. Politicians at every level of politics need to be better at explaining what decisions mean so that people know how they impact our lives and how to influence them.
These are just some of my views. What do you think? To bring about change in our democracy and encourage people to have faith in the power of democratic politics isn’t going to happen overnight. It needs to be worked at and can only be done over time by people working together to strengthen democracy. I’m passionate about doing this with you and want to get your views. They really matter to me. Click here to let me know.
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