Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat Candidate Fred Mackintosh signs the Power 2010 Pledge

10.00.00am GMT Tue 2nd Mar 2010

Edinburgh South Liberal Democrat Parliamentary Candidate Fred Mackintosh has signed up to support the Power 2010 campaign to reform parliament and our political system.

Fred Mackintosh said, "The Liberal Democrats have been calling for wholesale reform of our Parliamentary system for a long time and I am pleased to say that it is already our policy to:

"Introduce a proportional voting system. The Liberal Democrats will change politics forever and end safe seats by introducing a proportional voting system for the House of Commons and for the House of Lords. By giving voters the choice between people as well as parties, it means they can stick with a party but punish a bad MP by voting for someone else.

"Scrap ID cards and roll back the database state. Liberal Democrats would scrap ID cards. For me getting rid of this illiberal, expensive and ineffective scheme is a key motivator as I campaign for election.

"Replace the House of Lords with an elected chamber. Liberal Democrats will replace it with a fully elected second chamber with considerably fewer members than the current House.

"Draw up a written constitution. Liberal Democrats believe that people should have the power to determine this constitution in a convention made up of members of the public and parliamentarians of all parties, and subject to final approval in a referendum."

The Liberal Democrats don't support is the call to "allow only English MPs to vote on English laws". The Liberal Democrat answer to the concern in England that non English MPs influence the law in England is to create a truly federal United Kingdom where the anomalies in the current constitutional settlement are addressed in a complete written constitution for the UK as a whole.

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