It’s excellent news that Gordon Brown has so quickly put up-front his proposed constitutional reforms to end the antiquated and anti-democratic so-called royal prerogative powers – though we do need to look at the small print of exactly what is the detail of the changes to be made.
Having US Congressional-style confirmation hearings by appropriate Select Committees for key public positions is something I have long advocated. It should apply to Cabinet Ministers as well as key appointments outside Parliament. It should also include the power of recall by Parliament where appropriate for a further hearing where events justified it.
Requiring explicit Parliamentary approval before the country is committed to war is clearly right. But it does also mean that Parliament must be given, well in advance of the point where the advance to war becomes virtually unstoppable, the full evidence – not selective, not spun, not manipulated – on which the decision to go to war is based. That is what I proposed in my Private Member’s Bill on this issue earlier this year.
It is also sensible that MPs should be able to scrutinise the working of the honours system. But better still would be to abolish the whole system.
Drawing up a Bill of Rights is also clearly desirable, but everything depends on what is included in it – and what not. And since Blair-Brown have just gone out of their way to reject the Charter of Fundamental Rights which was supported by every one of the other 26 EU Member States, it is important to insist that basic rights must include collective rights, not just individual rights.
But if Parliament is genuinely to hold the Executive to account, what is so far missing from Gordon Brown’s proposals is the right for Parliament to set up its own Parliamentary Commission to investigate issues which may go beyond the scope or resources of a normal Select Committee inquiry, and where the Executive may be unwilling to initiate action itself. Obvious recent examples are an inquiry into the Iraq War and the whole question of extraordinary rendition. That is the real test of how meaningful these reforms are going to be.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article2010151.ece

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