‘Bar the Gates’ says Clegg.

MP’s should be allowed no summer holiday until they have driven through a radical program of reform Nick Clegg says in The Guardian.  Nothing surprising or necessarily that controversial (at least from a Liberal Democrat angle) but nonetheless a bold attempt to put Cameron in the shade;

• His proposals on party funding are that there both be a donation cap (£50,000) and spending limit over a Parliamentary term (£100 Million). This figure seems rather high and I am not sure it is something that the Liberal Democrats dream of spending in two Parliamentary terms but hey-ho. I presume by ‘shaking-up’ union funding he means democratising it which is ok but this is not spelled out.

 

• Fully-elected House of Lords. I am pretty much fully in favour here though Clegg wrongly avoids touching on the Royal Prerogative powers which weaken Parliament and strengthen the executive; something Cameron at least touched upon.

 

• Referendum on adopting AV+. Much needed and welcome.

I do have to ask though; where have the Bill of Rights and a written constitution gone? Here the proposal for a constitutional convention of some kind is not actually without merit, surely something that should be started in the first 100 days?