PMQs: what you would have asked Mr Brown today

MPs would be thrown out of the Commons if they were guilty of financial misconduct under urgent plans to be agreed by the parties and probably brought in before the next election.

The surprise move was proposed by Gordon Brown yesterday as he called on MPs to update the system of sanctions for misconduct by Members, which has not resulted in any MP being expelled in the past 50 years.

It was one of several short-term measures announced by the Prime Minister in a statement that also held out longer-term aspirations for a written constitution and possible changes to the voting system.

It also emerged that measures to phase out the remaining 92 hereditary peers will be taken before the election.

Announcing plans to rush through legislation to set up a new independent regulator to police MPs’ expenses, Mr Brown said that MPs could still be sent to prison for up to a year without being required to lose their seat and it was time to update sanctions.

If agreed, the changes could be pushed through under the House’s standing orders and would not require legislation.

Party leaders will be asked to agree proposals over the next few weeks that would allow the regulator to recommend to the House that one of its Members be suspended or expelled.

Mr Brown is also proposing that the parties consider the American system of recall, under which constituents can collect a stated number of signatures calling for their MP to go or face a by-election.

The Prime Minister gave notice that a plan to complete the reform of the Lords, making it 80 per cent or 100 per cent elected, will be tabled before the summer recess. The Government also proposes to push through plans to run down the remaining hereditary peers. It will legislate to end “by-elections” to replace peers when they die.

Mr Brown disclosed that the official release of receipts for all MPs’ expenses will happen “within the next few days”. Receipts would be made public as a matter of routine in future.

Mr Brown, insisting that he believed the vast majority of MPs “are in politics not for what they can get but for what they can give”, said: “In the midst of all the rancour and recrimination, let us seize the moment to lift our politics to a higher standard.”

The Prime Minister virtually ruled out a referendum on electoral reform during this Parliament, although he hinted that he might be open to limited change. He is understood to be attracted to the alternative vote, under which voters name their preferences in order, but within existing constituencies.

He continued to believe in the importance of the link between an MP and constituency and would be prepared to ditch first-past-the-post for an alternative only if there were “broad consensus in the country”. That would mean a referendum.

Mr Brown also announced plans to reduce from 30 to 20 years the delay before secret government papers are published, except for those relating to the Cabinet and Royal Family.

Sir Tim Berners-Lee, known as the father of the worldwide web, will lead a drive to open access to government data via the internet.

Mr Brown said that he had asked the Senior Salaries Review Body to review financial support in the Lords. Peers are unpaid but can claim potentially lucrative allowances for attending.

David Cameron accused Mr Brown of looking for excuses not to call an immediate general election. He asked: “Isn’t the answer to our discredited politics, to our disillusioned country and to our desperately weak Government a general election?”

Nick Clegg, the Liberal Democrat leader, welcomed “this deathbed conversion to political reform”.

Mr Clegg called on Mr Brown to cancel the summer recess, which lasts from July 12 to October 21, so that reforms to clean up politics could be pushed through.

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