Rosie backs most of the aims of Power 2010 (Woking Liberal Democrats)

Woking Liberal Democrats <info@wokinglibdems.org.uk>

Rosie backs most of the aims of Power 2010

March 1, 2010 4:01 PM

Power 2010 Candidates are being asked to sign the POWER Pledge:

1) Introduce a proportional voting system.

2) Scrap ID cards and roll back the database state.

3) Replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber.

4) Allow only English MPs to vote on English laws.

5) Draw up a written constitution.

Liberal Democrats have been calling for wholesale reform of our Parliamentary system for a long time and I am pleased to say that it is already our policy to:

*Introduce a proportional voting system.

The Liberal Democrats will change politics forever and end safe seats by introducing a fair, more proportional voting system for MPs, and for the House of Lords. By giving voters the choice between people as well as parties, it means they can stick with a party but punish a bad MP by voting for someone else.

*Scrap ID cards and roll back the database state.

Liberal Democrats would scrap ID cards. Getting rid of this illiberal, expensive and ineffective scheme, will free up money for thousands more police on our streets. We will also get innocent people off the DNA Database and scrap the intrusive ContactPoint database which will hold the details of every child in England.

*Replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber.

Liberal Democrats will replace it with a fully elected second chamber with considerably fewer members than the current House.

*Draw up a written constitution.

Liberal Democrats believe that people should have the power to determine this constitution in a convention made up of members of the public and parliamentarians of all parties, and subject to final approval in a referendum.

The only part of the pledge with which I do not agree is the call to "allow only English MPs to vote on English laws". We need a wider look at the constitution and our electoral system, rather than creating two types of MPs at Westminster. I believe that the better approach to solve the anomalies in the current constitutional settlement is to address the status of England within a Federal Britain, through the Constitutional Convention set up to draft a written constitution for the UK as a whole.

Rosie