Commenting on the state opening of Parliament today, Director of Unlock Democracy Peter Facey said:

“The Queen’s Speech offers us little new in terms of democratic renewal: a piecemeal Constitutional Renewal Bill which was first announced two years ago and then conspicuously dropped from last year’s government programme, the opportunity to debate a few proposals on Lords reform which again could have been debated last year and some vague hogwash about restoring ‘trust’.

“It is clear from this programme that Gordon Brown feels the crisis in our political system following the MPs’ expenses crisis is now over. But the public’s deep dissatisfaction with the Westminster Village has been festering for years. We still face the fundamental problem of a political elite that is fundamentally unaccountable.

“The government needs to give the public a clear indication that they have learned the real lessons of the expenses crisis and that there will be no more ‘business as usual’ in Westminster. It is running out of time but it has more than enough time to legislate for the establishment of a Citizens’ Convention.

“The Citizens’ Convention Bill, which already has cross-party support from 155 MPs, would give the public a central role in deciding how the system should be reformed. It is time Parliament took the enlightened step of recognising that it has become the problem itself.”