Gordon Brown said that in his position as Prime Minister he has a duty to ‘seek to resolve’ the current situation with regards to a hung parliament. Another prime minister once suggested that true leadership is to find opportunity in every difficulty.
The Prime Minister’s solution should not simply look towards forming a coalition, but a new type of politics. With the support of the other parties he could facilitate the creation of a 25-seat cabinet composed of MPs based on the share of the vote the parties have received and who have been appointed by their party’s MPs. This executive could then elect a chairperson who would assume the role of Prime Minister and appoint the cabinet portfolios in a similar way to the way the European Commission works. The executive would be like the board of a company where everyone has equal responsibility and would therefore have to act in the interests of the country and not their party.
Parliamentary committees could also become proportional. In addition, individual MPs could then be given the right to vote freely or as part of a group on all issues, in a similar way to how they do in the European Parliament. MPs would no longer be accountable to the whips, but to their constituents.
This approach would renew our democracy and could be done without primary legislation. I urge the parties to adopt this position and take the country forward, to a future where partisanism ends and progress begins.
