Feature: The race to reform
Public confidence in parliament and politics has fallen off a cliff. Everyone in Westminster – from the prime minister downwards – has bright ideas about what to do next.
The three-week maelstrom over expenses provided the sense of crisis needed to make, for the first time in a long time, real change possible.
The pervading nature of the need for transparency has transmitted itself far beyond the system of allowances granted to MPs.
Politicians, who above all others have a nose for sniffing out opportunities to get their favoured policy or idea some publicity, have been coming out of the woodwork in recent weeks.
Amid the passionate but somewhat disparate calls for change politics.co.uk has been picking out some of the ideas which, though not in the mainstream, could be worth a second look-over.
Shaking up parliament
You wouldn’t expect Sir Nicholas Winterton, one of the Conservative party’s most senior Tories, to be a zealous reformer. But the member for Macclesfield, who has been an MP since 1971, showed some of exactly that spirit when asked about his views on reform.
He’s the senior member on the modernisation committee, the body established soon after New Labour came to power in 1997 to reform the Commons. It went through a brief period of radical policies under Robin Cook, but since then has been rather more tame.
“The modernisation committee itself should disappear,” he demanded. It’s the only select committee chaired by a Cabinet minister, Sir Nicholas points out.
“To me, the modernisation committee is a weapon of government.”
While on the subject of committees, he has a further proposal to make: giving backbenchers some power over the agenda of the Commons through the creation of a business committee.
At present MPs just stand up and ask the leader of the House for debates once a week. Sir Nicholas, who has had enough of this after over a decade of Labour in government, would prefer to break up the government’s 100 per cent hold.
A government majority on a business committee would give them the authority to get their agenda through but would add a touch of spice to proceedings, he suggests.
“To my mind that would make this place much, much more relevant, much more exciting,” he proposes. He may be right.
Another MP who goes further is Graham Allen, a Labour backbencher who has passionately argued in favour of reform for years. He too backs a business committee, but for Mr Allen it’s the secret ballot which is the most important change.
“The key to parliamentary reform is the secret ballot,” he told politics.co.uk. “That is the key to breaking control of governments over parliaments.”
Following Michael Martin’s dramatic resignation his replacement as Speaker will be the first to be elected under such a system. Mr Allen wants it to be expanded to include membership of select committees, a matter currently in the hands of party whips.
“MPs can elect those who command the respect of their colleagues, rather than those who are acceptable to the very government they are meant to hold to account,” he urges.
The newly-elected Speaker will be a crucial figure in deciding these issues. Hustings will begin from next week in what is expected to be a tightly-fought election.
But Mr Allen doesn’t believe the candidate who is the most radical will end up being dragged to the chair currently occupied by Mr Martin.
“Given today’s statement by the prime minister I think they’re all in danger of being outflanked,” he says. He’s referring, of course, to Gordon Brown’s announcements on constitutional reform.
Mr Allen is seriously impressed: the election of select committees, time for non-governmental business and a new parliamentary commission have all ticked his reforming boxes.
“The candidates have to be a bit careful to avoid being left looking old-fartish,” he adds.
Beyond Westminster
Reforming parliament is one thing, but the expenses scandal has provided the momentum for a much greater shake-up. The spirit of reform goes far beyond Westminster, as the New Local Government Network thinktank’s director, Chris Leslie, explains.
“That window of opportunity certainly needs to be taken by those of us who believe that rules and procedures do matter. They may be dry and removed from real concerns but they have a massive effect.”
It’s a simple logic, he argues. The more people who are involved, the more likely you are to understand where public services do and don’t work. The “vast quangocracy” should be broken down, Mr Leslie presses. And a bit of devolving power to local administrations wouldn’t go amiss too.
“Whenever a decision has to go through a small number of people at the top of the country, no wonder we have slow decision-making – it doesn’t fit every single community,” he explains. “The key approach has to distribute that leadership, to cascade it to lots of different areas.”
A swing in the balance of power away from Whitehall and towards the town halls is a classic refrain for local government advocates. But there’s no doubt this long-simmering issue is one which the expenses furore might have finally brought to the boil.
“You have to believe in constitutional reform for a purpose,” he says. “You don’t just do it because it’s some academic exercise.”
For Mr Leslie, the answer is simple: British politics “just needs to be revived completely”.
