Constitutional changes will end 'sticking plaster politics' - Starmer

Keir Starmer has pledged a root-and-branch reform of the UK constitution, moving political power out of London, banning second jobs for MPs, and abolishing the House of Lords.

- Peter Walker Jessica Elgot Severin Carrell

The plans are a victory for the former prime minister Gordon Brown, who has pushed for Labour to set out a bold strategy that would hand new powers to local and regional government, including over transport and infrastructure, development funding, housing, training and job centres.

Starmer said political reforms such as the abolition of the Lords were fundamental to the redrawing of the British economy. "The driving force of the report is this sense that politics is broken and the economy is broken and we need to fix both parts," he said.

At the centre of the proposals is an overarching commitment to decentralisation, including a new constitutional commitment for Westminster to respect the autonomy of local and regional government.

The report, put together by a commission headed by Brown, lists 40 recommendations, including new proposals to clean up Westminster, replacing the Lords with a small elected second chamber of nations and regions, and a ban on most second jobs for MPs.