Interpreting | 2009.06.04
Parliamentary reform: We must go beyond a new constitution
Reforms such as the Human Rights Act, devolution, and freedom of information were more radical than anything that Britain had seen since before 1914. The outcome has been what I have called in my forthcoming book a new British constitution.
All of the reforms have weakened the power of government. Britain is now much less of an elective dictatorship than it was. Governments find themselves trammelled by the Human Rights Act and by a more assertive and independent House of Lords in which no single party enjoys a majority. They have also in effect lost the power to legislate over the domestic affairs of the non-English parts of the United Kingdom. Power has been cut into pieces.
Yet these reforms have done little to counteract widespread disenchantment with politics. The reason is clear. Constitutional reform has so far redistributed power only between elites, not between elites and the people. It has redistributed power "downwards" to politicians in Edinburgh, Cardiff, Belfast and London, "sideways" to the Lords and the judges interpreting the Human Rights Act. But it has not redistributed power to the voter. David Cameron is right, therefore, to say that we need to go beyond the new constitution, to an era of greater popular choice and control.
The expenses scandal has shown how remote many MPs have become from the electorate. Even without it, the case for a second era of constitutional reform would be strong. With it, the case is overwhelming.
There are two central themes in Cameron\'s manifesto. The first is the redistribution of power from government to parliament. But the fashionable proposal to reduce the number of MPs would have the opposite effect, making it more difficult for parliament to scrutinise the executive. And, in our anger against the abuse of expenses, we should not forget that many MPs remain valuable intermediaries between the citizen and the state. To reduce their number would be to increase alienation from government, not reduce it. Fixed-term parliaments also have their dangers. When there is a minority government which has lost the support of the legislature, there is deadlock. Fresh elections are always preferable. The proposal in the constitutional renewal bill for dissolution to depend on a majority vote of MPs is a better way forward.
Cameron\'s second theme is far more fruitful. He seeks greater direct democracy to supplement representative institutions. Before the 2008 mayoral election in London, he opened up the selection process so that all voters, not just party members or supporters, could choose the Conservative candidate. He is the pioneer of the open primary in British politics. He now wants directly elected mayors in other conurbations and cities, and to widen the power given to voters under the Local Government Act 2000 so that they can decide, for example, the organisation of schools in their area. These proposals would do much to strengthen local government.
There is a third and central theme for most constitutional reformers, proportional representation for elections to the Commons. That Cameron entirely rejects. Yet Britain remains the only democracy in Europe in which a government can enjoy the full plenitude of power on just 36% of the vote, with nearly two-thirds of the voters opposed to it. Many of the worst abuses of expenses have been perpetrated by MPs in safe seats, MPs with little to fear from the voters. Under proportional representation, however, there are no safe seats. If the case for the first-past-the-post system is so strong, why not put it to the voters? A reform package that does not include proportional representation is like Hamlet without the prince. David Cameron remains opposed to the one reform that would genuinely open up the British political system.
Even so, he has initiated a debate whose end result is impossible to foresee. For our constitutional future is about to be rewritten, and it will be rewritten not by the politicians but by those whose servants they are.
Vernon Bogdanor is professor of government at Oxford University. The New British Constitution will be published by Hart on 3 June
For more information, please visit
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/[...]utional-reform-vernon-bogdanor
