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I'm helping launch a campaign for a citizen's convention this afternoon in Parliament.
Why? Well, I've come to the view that if government answered to Parliament and Parliament was accountable to the people, we'd all be better governed. In fact, I thought that was how it was supposed to work.
Instead our Parliament is in the pocket of government whips - and many MPs seem to think they've a job for life. Instead of serving the voters, it appears some MPs have been serving themselves. Instead of real action over the real issues that affect our lives - punitive tax rates, unmanaged immigration, welfare reform - we've had .... umm ... initiatives and ... er ... lots of spin and PR.
In The Plan; 12-months to renew Britain, Dan Hannan and I outline 30 key changes I believe we need to see in order to refresh our democracy. However, it shouldn't be left to politicians to decide the way forward.
That's why I want us to have a formal mechanism to allow citizens to propose changes - not bogus, top-down "consultation". We must not leave it to those in SW1 alone to fix this mess.
If we leave reform to Gordon Brown, he'll give us FSA-style regulation for MPs. And remember what the FSA did to our banking system.
