Blog: First steps to mending political system

Wednesday 7th July 2010, 9:05AM BST.

Philip Dunne MP

During the election campaign much was said about how our political system was broken and needed mending, writes Ludlow MP Philip Dunne.

On Monday the new government set out its first steps in an ambitious programme for political renewal, transferring power away from the executive to empower parliament, and away from parliament to empower people.

The Prime Minister is giving up his power to dissolve Parliament and giving this to Parliament. Legislation is being introduced for five year fixed parliamentary terms, so you can pencil into your diary the date of the next General Election – May 7, 2015.

The number of MPs is to be reduced from 650 to 600, bringing our oversized House of Commons into line with legislatures across the world and cutting the cost of politics, saving £12 million-a-year on pay, pensions and allowances alone.

The Boundary Commission will therefore redraw all constituency boundaries and will be given a new remit to establish more equally sized constituencies, with a five per cent variation around an average constituency size of a 75,000 electorate.

The Ludlow constituency has an electorate of 68,000 and so will need to be enlarged.

As part of the coalition agreement we also agreed to introduce a referendum on the Alternative Vote system for elections, which will be held on May 5, 2011.

Further reforms will follow, but it is important to settle these issues swiftly so any changes can be in place for the next General Election.

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