WE ARE DEVO:

Brown vows to change way Britain is governed (Patrick Hennessy, 24/09/2006, Sunday Telegraph)

Gordon Brown today commits himself to a "new politics" and a change in the way that Britain is governed, in a radical personal manifesto for the leadership of the Labour Party.

The Chancellor believes that the Government "still has lessons to learn", more than nine years after Tony Blair entered Downing Street, and must be more accountable to both Parliament and the public. [...]

The Chancellor spoke to The Sunday Telegraph on a whistle-stop trip to New York last week. He indicated that he would sweep away Mr Blair's "sofa" style of government, in which decisions are taken by a small clique of advisers, and the spin and sleaze rows that have dogged the Prime Minister's time in office.

In their place would come a return to Cabinet government, a greater role for Parliament and a wholesale devolution of powers in providing public services that are likely to see politicians losing day-to-day control in a wide range of areas, including the NHS.

The plans could also see the abolition of an entire ministry, the Department for Trade and Industry.

His officials later suggested that Mr Brown was also studying plans to give Britain its first written constitution, a document that would enshrine the roles of monarchy, government, parliament and judiciary, as well as the legal rights of citizens.

The race to Blair's Right continues....

Posted by Orrin Judd at September 24, 2006 10:04 AM