Cabinet ministers press Gordon Brown for radical shakeup of politics

[depakid]

Source: The Guardian

Elected upper house and caps on party donations on modernisers' agenda

Gordon Brown is being pressed within the cabinet to extend plans to reform parliament, with proposals including setting up a constitutional convention that would be responsible for trying to reconnect ­politics with the people.

An intense cabinet-level debate is under way on the format of this initiative, its timescale and the range of issues that would be discussed. The enthusiasts for wider reform include Harriet Harman, leader of the Commons, James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary, and David Miliband, the foreign secretary.

The discussions were launched inside the cabinet by the business secretary, Lord Mandelson, when he raised the idea of a British constitutional convention on the model of the Scottish constitutional convention. What the modernisers inside the ­cabinet want on the agenda is:

• A referendum on electoral reform for the House of Commons.
• An elected upper house.
• Spending caps on donations to political parties.
• A widening of the base from which candidates are drawn.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/20/gordon-brown-parliament-constitutional-reform

[Vidar]

1. Cabinet members for the people. What a concept!

[depakid]

2. I don't think Americans realize what a major deal this is

High time for reform on the home front, if you ask me.

[Vidar]

3. The voters in the US are a mere rubber stamp for the corporate politicians who exploit us.

[T_i_B]

4. Take a good look at the House of Commons if you want overpaid "rubber stamps"

Which is kinda the whole problem.