Manifesto > Reform: Enhancing our democratic institutions (Introduction) | Open Europe | Better Government | Local Government | Human Rights and Civil Liberties

Reform: Enhancing our democratic institutions

Political reform matters.  We need to to restore power, accountability and competence to our political system in order that the electorate are once again secure in the knowledge that their vote is important and that national matters will be decided properly, democratically and accountably.

The House of Commons used to contain an enviable degree of skill and experience. Today we find parliament staffed with people who have only ever worked in or around politics. The result is a political system that favours regulation over personal responsibility and government over society.

The case for reform

We believe that proportional representation would be a grave mistake and would lead to the further corruption of politics by ‘rolling coalitions’ permanently entrenched in power. However, there is a case for modest reform of the electoral system whilst retaining single member constituencies. We would adopt the ‘Alternative Vote’ system, in which voters can express an order of preference between candidates in a given constituency. Candidates must achieve over 50 per cent of the vote, taking into account second and third preferences.

There is a pressing need for reform of the House of Lords, which has been undermined by politically-motivated appointments. Although there is an argument for it to be democratically elected we believe that the House of Lords should be a non-political revising and scrutinising chamber made up of people with experience and expertise. The best way to achieve this will be through an independent appointments panel with clear and transparent guidelines. Under our proposals, members of the House of Lords would be obliged to refrain from membership of political parties and avoid political activism.

The impartiality of the Civil Service must be protected from inappropriate political interference and we would ensure that political appointees have no direct authority over government officials.

The devolution settlements in Scotland and Wales are deeply flawed and unsatisfactory. We believe that there needs to be a better connection between the devolved assemblies and the Westminster parliament. The roles of Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) and Welsh Assembly Members (AMs) would therefore be combined with those of Westminster MPs. Those representing Scottish and Welsh constituencies would sit for part of the time in Westminster and at other times in their devolved chambers. This would get rid of double representation and deliver more powerful and accountable legislatures. To further balance matters we would set up an English Grand Committee to initiate and review England only legislation in the House of Commons, with certain powers (similar to the House of Lords) to block legislation that impacts only on England.

These key reforms are proposed in order to strengthen parliament, re-establish the authority of the House of Commons and make government more democratic, accountable and effective.

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