Better GovernmentStop The Abuse Of Power |
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Curb the power of the Prime MinisterIn recent decades Prime Ministers have exercised a growing domination over the political system, insufficiently accountable to Parliament or the people. We will curb this excessive concentration of power. We will cut back the powers of patronage, in particular through our plans for a predominantly elected second chamber. We will make the Royal Prerogative powers which the Prime Minister exercises – such as decisions over war and peace – subject to parliamentary accountability, including bringing in a War Powers Act to require parliament’s authority before a government takes Britain to war. A Civil Service Act will introduce a barrier to politicisation of the civil service. We will also strengthen the powers of parliament to scrutinise the actions of the government, enhancing the Select Committee system. |
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Cut back central governmentWe will cut the excessive number of government departments and reduce the number of government ministers by over a third. We will also move government bureaucracy out of London, saving money on office rents and spreading wealth and jobs more equally through the UK. The savings will be ploughed back into better public services. |
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More power for local communitiesOur priority is to make local services, like health and education, work better for people. That means that local communities need to have more influence and say over the major issues affecting them. So we will strengthen local democracy, taking power down from Whitehall and reducing central interference and the burden of inspection. The powers of many unelected regional and national quangos and administrators will be given to local cities and counties, including returning to County Councils their strategic planning role. The healthcare planning role of Primary Care Trusts will be given to elected local social services authorities. We will streamline remaining regional functions into a single agency, increasing accountability to the local community through an executive comprising councillors elected from the cities and counties, rather than appointed by the Secretary of State. Underpinning these reforms will be a new system for dividing up government funding fairly within the UK, so that the system is fair for the nations and regions according to their real needs. |
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A more democratic BritainLiberal Democrats will improve and strengthen the UK’s democratic systems. Liberal Democrats in government in Scotland are already bringing in the single transferable vote (STV) system for local elections, so that local councillors will genuinely represent their community. We will extend this fair voting system to all local elections in Britain, and to the House of Commons, Scottish Parliament and National Assembly for Wales. At the age people can marry, leave school and start work, they will have the right to vote. We will review the European electoral system so people can choose their MEPs personally, rather than just vote by party list as at present. Reform of the House of Lords has been botched by Labour, leaving it unelected and even more in the patronage of the Prime Minister. We will replace it with a predominantly elected second chamber. |
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Better government in the nations of the UKLiberal Democrats have led the way in arguing for devolution to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. We believe that people in those parts of the UK, rather than the government in London, should take the decisions on issues that affect them directly. We will therefore strengthen the powers of the Northern Ireland Assembly and extend primary legislative powers to the National Assembly for Wales. In consultation with the Scottish Parliament, we will consider how to extend its role. |
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Make the BBC more independent from governmentThe BBC has, over the last eighty years, made a major contribution to Britain’s democracy, culture and standing in the world. The Liberal Democrats will make sure it remains the world’s leading public service broadcaster – strong, independent, and securely funded. But the regulation of the BBC has been insufficiently independent of its own management, and of the government. Labour’s proposals fail to address this. Liberal Democrats will scrap the current government-appointed Board of Governors, and introduce a new, independent external regulator appointed by parliament, to make sure that all public service broadcasters live up to their obligations to the public. |
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Every time you open a newspaper or see the news, the government seems to be taking more power for itself, and in particular for the Prime Minister. |
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It started with Mrs. Thatcher. It has got worse since Tony Blair became Prime Minister. His Policy Unit at No. 10 Downing Street tells ministers what to do. His Cabinet no longer makes the key decisions; he does. The House of Commons is no longer supreme; it is treated as a rubber-stamp, rather than as the people’s representatives to whom government is accountable. |
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Local councils are controlled by centrally imposed rules and regulations, or by-passed by government-appointed boards and quangos. I remember the remarkable record of great towns and counties in the past, and the pride local people felt in them. Why does the government so undermine them? |
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Professional men and women, like doctors, teachers and nurses are constantly told by the government exactly what they should do. The blizzard of orders and directives is relentless. Today we have the nanny state with a vengeance. |
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Yet the Government does not have a popular majority for what it is doing. Even in 2001, the last election, only four out of ten voters supported it. If Britain had a fair voting system, Labour would never have had its current huge majority of parliamentary seats. |
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I have served in parliament for thirty years, nearly twenty in the Commons and ten in the Lords. I have never felt so worried about the safety of British democracy. It is being eroded bit by bit. Only the opposition parties in the House of Lords, and some independent cross-benchers, saved the country from a regime of detention without trial, determined not by judges but by ministers. Up to now, that kind of behaviour only happened in tyrannies like Pinochet’s Chile, or Verwoerd’s South Africa. |
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The arrogant abuse of power must be stopped, by restoring cabinet government, protecting the independence of civil servants, giving greater power to local government, and ensuring that parliament has the time to do its crucial job of holding the executive to account. |
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Liberties, once lost, are rarely restored. The freedom of the individual lies at the heart of liberal democracy, and we Liberal Democrats are determined to defend it. Shirley Williams Former Liberal Democrat Leader in the House of Lords |
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Green Action |
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Since being elected to parliament I have been appalled by how unrepresentative it is and how easily it has been manipulated by the Government, culminating in Blair taking Britain to war on a false premise. That’s why Liberal Democrats will curb the power of the Prime Minister. And we’ll introduce a fair voting system, so that parliament better represents the views of Britain and better reflects its diversity - with more women and a greater proportion of ethnic minority MPs. Sandra Gidley - Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Women |