Andrew Marr: 'Our over-centralised system isn't working - Westminster needs an almighty kick in the backside'

5 December 2022, 19:23 | Updated: 6 December 2022, 18:48

Andrew Marr has said that the British political establishment needs "an almighty kick up its great fat white bottom", after calls by Labour to abolish the House of Lords and to give more power to the British regions.

Speaking on LBC's Tonight with Andrew Marr, the presenter pointed out that parts of the UK are poorer than parts of eastern and central Europe, adding that "we are an incredibly centralised country - and it hasn't done well for us".

He said: "Evening - so here’s a thing. The Labour Party in the form of the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the current leader Keir Starmer today unveiled a genuinely radical and provocative plan to shake up British politics.

"But before we come onto that I want to tell you about some of the research behind this.They did their own polling, and they found that a clear majority of British adults, in all places, and supporters of all parties, think it doesn’t matter who you vote for, nothing will ever really change."

'The Westminster system needs an almighty kick up its great fat bottom'

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"More than 60% believe that Britain has a ruling class which will always rule, no matter what happens. As to how that class is doing, so far, Sheffield University’s Philip McCann, one of the world’s most highly cited economists in his field, told them half the UK population now lives in areas that are no better off than the poorer parts of the former East Germany and poorer than parts of central and Eastern Europe.

"It’s a similar picture compared with the poorer parts of the USA. We are an incredibly centralised country, and it hasn’t done well for us. So if you think constitutional reform is a huge inducer of yawns, and not much else, you are wrong. It isn’t popular because nobody knows what it means."

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Andrew spoke to Gordon Brown, author of a report calling for sweeping constitutional change, later in the programme, with the former Prime Minister urging a future Labour government to get rid of the Lords.

Referring to Mr Brown's proposals, the presenter continued: "So here today is what it might mean. Abolish the 830-strong House of Lords, and replace it with an elected Senate or second chamber of no more than 200, representing the nations and regions of the UK, move 50,000 jobs out of Whitehall and out of London, a new anti-corruption commissioner to root out criminal behaviour in political life.

"More directly elected mayors and more powers for towns and cities across the UK. Less London, in short, and more local.

"Now this has already produced a predictable storm of outrage. We’re becoming a country that thinks ‘we’ve always done it this way, you can’t change that!’"

Andrew continued: But we haven’t done so well, and we do need to change. Take that headline idea of getting rid of the Lords. There are lots of bright people there, that’s for sure. And some wise ones. And some useful committees and interesting questions being asked.

"But the Lords itself is also now stuffed with cronies, people who have bunged money to political parties and former bag carriers people want to reward. The country has noticed, and the country doesn’t like it.

"There was a golden age of the House of Lords, wasn’t there? Really? When? Back in the Victorian times one of the greatest of their political writers Walter Bagehot simply said: ‘the cure for admiring the House of Lords is to go and look at it.’

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"Getting this plan into practice even with a majority Labour government will be very difficult indeed. There’s plenty of intelligent objections to bits of it which I’m going to be putting to the author, the former Prime Minister Gordon Brown in just a sec.

"But since I can say what I think, let me say this. I have been watching British politics pretty closely for the last 40 years. And I think the Westminster system needs an almighty kick up its great fat white bottom. This may be the necessary boot."