by Labor leader Keir Starmer promises “the greatest transfer of power ever from Westminster to the British people”.
Britain’s opposition Labor party has promised to abolish the unelected and “unjustifiable” House of Lords as part of a constitutional amendment to redistribute economic growth after Brexit.
Labor is expected to take power in the next general election, due in January 2025, and is well ahead of the ruling Conservatives in opinion polls after a politically and economically turbulent period.
Labor leader Keir Starmer on Monday promised “the biggest transfer of power ever”. [the UK parliament in] Westminster to the British people,” arguing that many voters chose to leave the European Union in 2016 because they felt they lacked democratic control.
The party’s reform plan, drafted by former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, sees a new decentralization to the UK’s regions and countries, including Scotland, where the nationalist government is pushing for a new referendum on independence.
Brown, who led the successful 2014 campaign to keep his Scottish compatriots in the UK, proposed greater decentralization with Edinburgh’s Parliament being involved in international agreements affecting Scottish territories.
Speaking to an audience in Leeds, northern England, Starmer said a “lack of economic growth over the last 12 years” under Conservative rule was partly due to Britain as a whole being unable to drive growth and being overly reliant leave London and South East England.
Public Consultation
The blueprint is not yet a labor policy. It now goes to public consultation, with agreed changes set to be included in the party’s next election manifesto.
Starmer said he hoped to get the eventual reforms through within the first five years of a Labor government, possibly including moving 50,000 public sector jobs out of London.
The proposals, aimed at countering widespread public outrage over alleged misconduct in Parliament, would crack down on MPs with part-time jobs and create a new anti-corruption commissioner.
At the heart of the 40-point plan is the abolition of the upper house of parliament in its current form – which is a mix of political appointments, hereditary peers and Church of England bishops.
“I think the House of Lords is indefensible. Anyone looking at the House of Lords would be hard pressed to say it should be preserved,” Starmer told BBC television.
“So we want to abolish the House of Lords and replace it with an elected chamber that has a really strong mission.”
Brown proposed a new assembly with members from the UK’s regions and countries – a “smaller, more representative and more democratic” chamber, although details are left to consultation.
