Clegg's constitutional challenge
Updated on 28 May 2009
British MPs should sacrifice their lengthy summer holidays until the constitutional crisis created by the expenses row has been resolved, Nick Clegg said today.
The Liberal Democrat leader has drawn up a 100-day action plan to overhaul the parliamentary system.
The "swift, decisive and confident" plan, which Clegg wants to start as soon as possible, involves:
a) A reformed system of party funding, including a ban on individual donations of more than £50,000, with party spending limited to £100m over a parliament and a "shake up" of union contributions.
b) Reform of the House of Lords: a fully elected chamber with peers elected on a different constituency basis and electoral cycle to MPs.
c) Electoral reform in the form of an Irish-style single transferable vote system in which voters elect the person, not the party.
The 100 days
21 days: pass legislation to introduce fixed parliamentary terms of four years from 2010, denying the prime minister the right to name the date of general elections.
28 days: all-party talks, convened by the new Commons Speaker, to introduce a series of changes to parliamentary procedure that would be agreed by day 100, including handing MPs the right to decide the parliamentary timetable.
35 days: introduce new laws to allow a referendum to be held on electoral reform – the alternative vote-plus system proposed by the late Lord Jenkins – that would be held on day 100.
49 days: pass legislation to replace the House of Lords with a wholly elected senate.
100 days: agree new parliamentary procedure.
Read the full Liberal Democrat 100 day reform plan here.
