A new Britain: renewing our democracy and rebuilding our economy, the name of the manifesto written by former prime minister Gordon Brown for his party, which has been on the opposition bench since he left twelve years ago. A more notable plan was to replace the roughly thousand-year-old House of Lords with an assembly outside London. It should include representatives from the four countries that make up the United Kingdom and several key regions.

Not surprisingly, Britain’s Social Democrats have set their sights on the House of Lords. It has 786 Lords and Ladies including 26 Bishops, Lords Spiritual. It forms the world’s second largest chamber of representatives after the Chinese People’s Congress. Until the end of the last century, the House of Lords was the exclusive domain of the aristocracy, but Tony Blair’s New Labor put an end to that. Now only 92 true lords remain on the red benches.

These reforms have changed the nature of The House of Lords. It now includes former politicians, scientists, businessmen and celebrities. One problem is that sitting Prime Ministers have the power to grant people the title of Lady or Lord, which is the ticket to this exclusive society. This issue encourages favoritism and corruption. Compared to the noble House of Lords before Blair’s reforms, the current chamber still has a more limited political say: the House can block laws for a while and reject them only if they conflict with the constitution.

The land is held together with adhesive tape

According to Brown and his political successor Starmer, it was time for a complete overhaul of the country, held together with tape, in the latter’s words. There is more power in the capital at the moment, he said during a presentation in Leeds, northern England. As far as the Labor Party is concerned, fifty thousand government employees should go to the region. Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland also have more to say, but a federal government is a step too far.

In response to Brexit, the Conservative ruling party is also now trying to spread wealth more evenly across the country, but Labor says this does not go far enough and requires full constitutional reform. The question is whether this is a voter priority in the midst of an economic recession. Contrary to expectations, Starmer does not want to change the current county system, which according to progressive critics in particular leads to unequal representation in the elected House of Commons.