Cleaning Up Politics

We have a wide-ranging programme to improve the political system we inherited from Labour. We are bringing forward reforms which aim to restore people’s faith in their politics and politicians. We want our political system to be more accountable and more transparent.

• We have established five-year fixed-term Parliaments.
• We gave people a choice on changing the voting system through a referendum on the Alternative Vote.
• We have legislated to reduce the number of MPs and to make sure constituencies have more equal electorates.
• We will bring forward legislation to introduce a power of recall, enabling voters to force a by-election in cases of serious wrongdoing.
• We have brought forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation.
• We will reduce electoral fraud by speeding up the implementation of individual voter registration.
• We will establish a commission to consider the 'West Lothian question'.
• We will bring forward draft legislation on reforming Parliamentary privilege.
• We will cut the perks and bureaucracy associated with Parliament.
• We will consult with the Independent Parliamentary Standards Authority on how to move away from the generous final-salary pension system for MPs.
• We have ensured that any petition that secures 100,000 signatures will be eligible for formal debate in Parliament.
• We will improve the civil service, and make it easier to reward the best civil servants and remove the least effective.
• We will open up Whitehall recruitment by publishing central government job vacancies online.
• We are implementing the proposals of the Calman Commission and have held a referendum on further Welsh devolution.
• We have published the salaries of the highest-earning civil servants, and have reformed the civil service compensation scheme.
• We have provided £1million of new funding to help disabled people become MPs, councillors and other elected officials.