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Clegg: Scrap legislative programme in favour of reform
16 Nov 2009Gordon Brown should scrap the legislative programme he is planning to unveil in this week's Queen's Speech, and devote the final months of this Parliament instead to cleaning up Westminster, Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg said today.
Despite the pomp and ceremony of Wednesday's State Opening of Parliament, few of the Bills announced by the Queen stand any chance of becoming law in the 70 sitting days before the general election, said Mr Clegg.
But there is still enough time for MPs to put in place an "emergency programme of political reform" to restore public confidence in Britain's democratic system in time for the new Parliament which will be elected next year.
"When you move out of a house, you clean it for the people moving in," said the Lib Dem leader in an article in The Independent.
"This must be the final task of the rump Parliament."
Mr Clegg set out an "action plan to save Britain's democracy" which he believes can be completed before the final possible date for the election on June 3 next year.
The plan includes measures to reduce the power of the whips, introduce fixed-term parliaments, reform party funding, permit the sacking of misbehaving MPs, impose a code of conduct and register of interests for election candidates, and establish a fully-elected House of Lords.
In perhaps the most eye-catching proposal, Mr Clegg calls for a committee on electoral reform composed of 100 randomly-chosen citizens, which would be given a year to choose a fairer voting system for Westminster elections to put to voters in a referendum.
"These changes would be a tall order, but with political will they could finally transform our threadbare democratic institutions for good," said Mr Clegg.
"Instead of being just a sorry footnote to a shameful year at Westminster, these months would become a moment of great change in British political history.
"This rump Parliament, brought to its knees by scandal, has one final chance left to redeem itself. It must now provide a golden legacy to the next Parliament so that we can all be proud of our democracy once again."
Mr Brown is thought to be planning a streamlined Queen's Speech in the knowledge that he must call an election within six months.
But he is still hoping to squeeze in legislation to tighten regulation of the banks, reform Parliament, establish enforceable rights to public services, provide free personal care for those in most need, tackle anti-social behaviour, provide protection for energy consumers and crack down on failing schools.
Mr Clegg dismissed the programme as "a waste of everyone's time", as an average of 240 sitting days is needed to get any piece of legislation on to the statute book.
"The Queen's Speech will be dressed up as the way to 'build Britain's future' when it will be little more than a rehearsal of the next Labour Party manifesto, an attempt to road-test policy gimmicks to see whether they might save this Government's skin," he said.
"It is a waste of everyone's time, and should be cancelled in favour of an emergency programme of political reform. That is the only job this rump of a Parliament is fit for."
