A “new politics” from the Prime Minister?

Gordon Brown today gave a speech in which he called for a "new politics" and a "radical, modern, open and demcocratic agenda" to restore trust in politics following the damage wrought by the expenses crisis.

The government intends to hold a vote in Parliament next week on holding a referendum on the Alternative Vote system which he says will help re-build confidence in MPs by ensuring each of them has over 50% support from voters in their constituency.

Finally, then, at the eleventh hour, just before a general election, the government has come to recognise that our current first past the post electoral system is no longer fit for purpose in a multi-party democracy.

Although the Alternative Vote is not proportional, and therefore does nothing to ensure the number of seats a party has reflects the share of votes it receives, it does offer voters more choice and is a small step towards a fairer system.

But if the aim of this whole exercise is to restore trust in politics, as Gordon Brown claims, then the government could hardly have gone about it in a worse way.

Without troubling the public for their views, ministers hand-picked the voting system they favour in a cynical exercise aimed at wrong-footing the Tories ahead of a likely election defeat.

How much more compelling would it have been to ask the public which method they favour to select their representatives in a process of meaningful debate and deliberation?

During Power2010's Deliberative Poll, 130 citizens from across the UK of all political backgrounds and walks of life, discussed the changes they wanted to see to our democracy over the course of a weekend.

On Saturday 43% of people backed the Alternative Vote, on the Sunday - after discussing it - only 36.6% did. Support for a more proportional system, meanwhile, rose from 48% to 53% and is now leading the list of reforms in the public vote.

The Prime Minister talks of a "new politics", but by denying people the right to consider the merits of different systems and dangling the prospect of fundamental reform in such a manipulative fashion ahead of an election, he can't help but recall the same old cyncial top-down politics he claims to be against.

Brown also spoke of a much more ambitious proposal for a democratic written constitution "enshrining a modern popular sovereignty".

The 800th anniversary of the signing of Magna Carta at Runnymede in 2015 would provide the perfect occasion to adopt this new constitutional document, he said, which would be drawn up with the participation of people across the country.

Cabinet Secretary, Gus O'Donnell, has apparently been asked to bring together the various laws and unspoken conventions that make up our existing constituion to kick start a debate on the principles that should underpin any new settlement.

For those who recall the speech with which Brown launched his premierhship two and a half years ago, this can't help but evoke a strange sense of deja vu. Back then Brown spoke of a "new constitutional settlement" and a "written constitution" to tackle the public's loss of faith in formal politics.

If he means it for real the second time round then it's to be welcomed and it's a credit to the many thousands of people involved in the Power2010 movement that democratic renewal is now at the centre of the political agenda.

Power2010 will keep driving ahead with its mass online vote to engage the views of as many people as possible on how to fix our broken system - if you haven't yet voted for the refoms you would like to see, you can do so here - you have until February 22nd!

Pam Giddy is director of POWER2010.