Strengthening the Legitimacy and Accountability of Parliament

Public faith in Parliament is at an all-time low. The House of Commons is often seen as a rubber stamp for the executive (the Government) and MPs have little or no input into Bills before Parliament.

My vision is to see a Parliament providing a greater input into the decision-making process – with a reformed bicameral system consisting of the existing House of Commons and a new Senate, replacing the House of Lords.

My vision is to see a Parliament with fixed Parliamentary terms, where the dictatorial power to call an election at any time within five years is removed, and where Prime Ministers may serve for no longer than eight years.

Fixed four-year Parliamentary terms

One of the main problems for the electorate and opposition parties is that they do not know when there will be a General Election. They may spend the majority of their campaign funds on hard campaigning without an election being called for another two years.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s politicising in autumn 2007 is a good example of why fixed-term parliaments can be supported – it undermines the power of parliament if the Prime Minister is permitted to call an election for the sake of Party, rather than Country.

I believe that Parliaments should run for four years – enough time for Governments to get their legislation through. However, in the event of war, Parliament would have the power to lengthen the term.

Change of Government Party Leader results in compulsory election

Again stemming from the events in 2007 when Gordon Brown succeeded Tony Blair as Prime Minister unelected and unopposed.

A change of Prime Minister will quite often result in a change of policy and change of direction – a change which has not been given a mandate by the British public.

It is for that reason that I believe that, should a Prime Minister resign, his/her successor must call an election within 100 days of taking office.

Keep first-past-the-post

I am a firm believer in the first-past-the-post electoral system.

With very few exceptions, the system usually produces strong governments with strong Constituency links with Members of Parliament.

Changing the Bicameral System: House of Commons and Senate

Currently the UK Parliament operates under a system which is not truly bicameral. Members of the House of Lords have very little input into the democratic process – they cannot create legislation and have limited powers to alter bills presented to them. And, as an unelected body, this is the right thing to happen.

However, my vision is one with a wholly elected House – called the Senate – with powers to introduce legislation, scrutinise the executive, amend bills presented before them and even veto legislation.

Elections for the Senate would be held every four years. However, they would be two years out of phase with the House of Commons elections. There would be two Senators per Constituency, which will be decided by the Electoral Commission every 10 years, with no more than 700 Senators.

Elections for the Senate would be carried out under the Single Transferrable Vote electoral system, which, if popular, could be introduced into the House of Commons.

The Prime Minister will still be the leader of the majority party in the House of Commons, but the Cabinet can be chosen from any party in either House.

Defecting MPs or Senators results in compulsory by-election

MPs and Senators are elected on a Party ticket, with current estimates that only around 2,000 votes per MP are “personal votes”.

With this in mind, if an MP or Senator defected, then there should be a by-election in their Constituency within one month of their defection.

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