Tory leader Cameron puts IT at heart of political reform

Cameron: Backing e-petitions

Conservaite Party leader David Cameron has identified key roles for IT to play in his drive for "a massive redistribution of power" away from the political elite in response to the ongoing scandal over MPs' expenses.

He called for a national "right of initiative" that would enable e-petitioners to force issues on to the floor of the Commons for debate if they can secure sufficient support.

Cameron has proposed publication of parliamentary information online in an open-source format to enable people to more easily access bills and other legislation and find more explanation of proposed laws, and allow citizens to flag up flaws and suggest improvements.

And in a speech to the Confederation of British Industry conference he called for an end to "the ridiculous ban on parliamentary proceedings being uploaded to YouTube", insisting that "anything that acts as a barrier between politics and the public has got to be torn down".

The ban was imposed by traditionalist MPs in Labour and Tory ranks fearful of being held up to ridicule.

Cameron claimed a change of government is necessary to drive through his " transparency agenda", claiming it would not be available under prime minister Gordon Brown.

Cameron's initiative could restore the drive for a formal e-petitioning system to Parliament that has stalled through government unwillingness to pay for complicated and expensive proposals drawn up by MPs, which were designed to ensure politicians retain ultimate control over the system by filtering petitions through constituency MPs and Commons committees.

He ignored the existence of the Downing Street web site set up under former Labour prime minister Tony Blair with its provision for e-petitions, which demonstrated their power when a million motorists opposed road charging, effectively killing off proposals.

Meanwhile, relatively "clean" MPs are turning in droves to the internet in a desperate new bid to distance themselves from the scandal and escape public outrage by publishing their expenses records online on their own web sites ahead of the delayed and censored publication forced on the Commons authorities.

A report, Politics Online 2009, from a new organisation, Social Media Affairs, revealed the Tories have developed a small lead over their Labour and Liberal Democrat rivals within social media ranging from bloggers to Twitter.

Nearly a fifth of political bloggers are aligned with the Conservative Party, with Labour and the Liberal Democrats trailing at 16 per cent each.

The report speculated that all parties are anxious to develop online campaigning in the wake of the huge success online enjoyed by US President Barack Obama ahead of next year's general election.

Former Number 10 spokesman Alastair Campbell said in a foreword: “Politicians need to stop seeing social media as an alternative to traditional media communications. It is not about bypassing the papers or TV. It is understanding that people are both more demanding and more understanding than they get credit for.”

Labour received a setback during the expenses scandal with the ridicule heaped on Brown's head when he went on YouTube to announce his original proposal to replace the expenses system with a daily supplement for all out-of-London MPs' to receive simply by turning up.