Gordon Brown: reformer

Alex Smith

Gordon Brown reformBy Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

The mood amongst reformers at the RSA today was buoyant, following one of Gordon Brown’s boldest speeches for some time, the full text of which can be read here.

There is some doubt that all of the changes will be delivered, but the intention and content of the keynote speech was applauded by the overwhelming majority.

As well as the pledge to add an amendment to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill to compel a referendum on the Alternative Vote by autmn 2011, which the PM said he would campaign in favour of, he also signalled that there will be new draft bills before Parliament imminently that will begin the completion of reform of the House of Lords.

The Prime Minister signalled that he had asked the cabinet secretary to consolidate all constitutional documents into a single written document in time for the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta signing, in 2015, and that a process should begin to codify British law into a single constitution.

The PM also said that Labour will support the case for petitions to be debated on within Parliament, and for select committee chairs to be elected by the whole House of Commons.

Pressed by an audience member to summarise his views on hat “a new politics” would mean for people into one or two sentences, the PM responded:

“Every citizen should have the chance to bridge the gap of what they have and what they want to become.”

Writing for Progress’ Progressive Voices feature, Jessica Asato wrote:

“Today saw the authentic Brown returning to the path that he embarked on in 2007 with a serious ambition to fulfil what he started. A commitment to an AV referendum will help to change the debate once and for all about where political power should lie in this country. It should be with the people, not the politicians.

Also writing for Progress, Guy Lodge of the ippr, who organised today’s event, commente on the political implications of the announcements:

“Much will be made of the politics underlying today’s announcement to introduce a bill for a referendum on AV. Some will see it as an attempt to cosy up to the Lib Dems, potentially strengthening Labour’s appeal if there is a hung parliament; others say it will make life uncomfortable for the Tories by forcing them to explicitly reject a referendum. But the idea that this move somehow “locks” in the Tories is overblown since they can easily repeal a bill if they win, though it’s true they will come under pressure to explain why they think the people should be denied a say (not that this irritated the British public when Labour reneged on their own manifesto commitment for such a vote). Instead the real political significance of today is for Labour. Heavily divided between the minority pro-reformers and first-past-the-post diehards for much of its existence the Labour party might finally unite behind the cause of electoral reform, albeit over the AV compromise. Whatever the fate of the bill Labour will have signed up to AV and will find it hard to undo this commitment.”

Meanwhile, the Labour Campaign for Electoral Reform said it welcomed the Prime Minister’s speech:

“The choice before the electorate at the next general election is clear: between Labour as the only party of government capable of delivering real democratic reform, and David Cameron’s Conservatives defending the discredited status quo.

“The Alternative Vote, while not a proportional system for which we have long campaigned, would nevertheless represent a step in the right direction. It would allow Labour voters in safe Conservative seats to register their true preferences without fear of “wasting” their votes, and would mean every elected candidate could legitimately claim to enjoy the support of over half the voters. It will give Labour candidates something to say on an issue which first surfaced when the Plant Commission reported in 1993 and then leader John Smith said “let the people decide” and has appeared in successive Labour manifestos.”

“We now call on all Labour MPs to unite behind the lead shown by the Prime Minister and Cabinet and vote for the government’s amendment.”

A recent letter coordinated by the ECLR calling for Gordon Brown to “carry through the Cabinet agreement to legislate for a referendum on the Alternative Vote system of electing MPs by putting down an amendment to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Bill” had been signed by 27 Labour MPs:

Graham Allen
Janet Anderson
Charlotte Atkins
Hugh Bayley
Roger Berry
Richard Burden
Colin Challen
David Chaytor
Frank Cook
Jim Dowd
David Drew
Patrick Hall
John Hutton
Glenda Jackson
Mark Lazarowicz
Tom Levitt
Martin Linton
Andy Love
Fiona MacTaggart
Julie Morgan
Andrew MacKinlay
Doug Naysmith
Nick Palmer
James Plaskitt
Virendra Sharma
Alan Whitehead,
Derek Wyatt

Will Sullivan, of the campaign group Vote for a Change, said today’s announcement was “amazing news” and that:

“We’re about to get a real say in who represents us – and a true voice in how our democracy is run. As for what happens now? Time’s running out to make sure the Constitutional Reform bill passes in this Parliament. Some MPs will still try to derail it – so we’ll have one last fight on our hands.”

In a video, he said the time for radical change has come:

But not all reformers were impressed. Writing for the New Statesman today, which has long campaigned on reform of the voting system, George Eaton said:

“Reform is now on offer but of the most limited kind possible. Brown’s first mistake was to reject the radical option, favoured by Alan Johnson and others, of holding a referendum before or on the day of the general election, with the result that a referendum is now unlikely to take place…Had Brown come out in favour of proportional representation (PR) he could have begun a realingment of the left and ended the stranglehold of a handful of marginal voters on British politics. Instead, he has left Labour open to charges of cowardice from reformers and of opportunism from opponents.

Meanwhile, Pam Giddy of Power2010 said:

“If the aim of this whole exercise is to restore trust in politics, as Gordon Brown claims, then the government could hardly have gone about it in a worse way. Although the Alternative Vote is not proportional, and therefore does nothing to ensure the number of seats a party has reflects the share of votes it receives, it does offer voters more choice and is a small step towards a fairer system. The Prime Minister parades this as an example of the “new politics” on offer from Labour, but to many it will seem like the same old top-down politics that put them off in the first place. Without troubling the public for their views, ministers hand-picked the voting system they favour in a cynical exercise aimed at wrong-footing the Tories ahead of a likely election defeat. The future of our democracy is far too important to be decided by empty gestures such as this. If it’s a “new politics” we want then it’ll have to come from the people. That’s why Power2010 is asking the British public what changes they would like to see from the next Parliament through a mass online vote. The top 5 ideas will form the backbone of a nationwide campaign for change at the next election.”




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