PR is not enough. We need to redistribute power!

"Power corrupts", and I am afraid that what we have seen in the past 2 years is no worse than what went before it. Throughout my adult life not a year has gone by without some political scandal or other being in the news.

The simple observation that our leaders are not using their power with our interests at heart is a part of the problem our country faces, for the powers they exert are not theirs they belong to us, the people. From the abuse of power stem all the other problems we face. At elections power switches from one unchallenged central government to another, with the regional and local of our society set aside for some mythical greater good.

We must stop focussing on the single issue of our voting system, it is the system that is the problem and needs to be changed. Our bicameral system of government (Commons and Lords) is supposed to offer scrutiny, but when most of the Lords are political appointees how can that be so?

The only way to make our system fair is to change both the structure and the election of our government so that power lies as close to the people as possible.

Whilst it is therefore important to change the voting system, that will not resolve the problems our country faces. We must also disperse power to the regions, districts, and communities of England in a way that cannot be reversed at the whim of a central government.

Real change, real levelling up, comes from shifting power (legal and fiscal) to where is it most effective, in Regional State Parliaments and local councils, and then enshrining that power in a written constitution.

This Is what our policy, passed last Autumn, on Federalism for England, proposes, and what so many of our past policy papers on constitutional reform have moved towards.

By making National Government accountable to an elected Senate of the Regions, by creating regional state Governments and Local Councils with real legal and fiscal power, and by making these bodies electable in a proportional voting system, then enshrining all of that in a written constitution we can create a modern democracy in the UK that can encourage economic growth and development across England.

PR is not enough. We need to redistribute power! (libdemvoice.org)

* Ian is VC Campaigns for NW Liberal Democrats, and a member of the ECE, EFAC and FCEC.