News story

Government to transform politics: Deputy Prime Minister

The new Deputy Prime Minister has set out his intention to put freedom at the heart of the government’s agenda.

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

In his first official speech on constitutional reform as Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg promised the “biggest shake up of our democracy” since the Great Reform Act of 1832.

Read the Deputy PM’s full speech.

The Deputy PM rejected initiatives such as the ID card scheme, the national identity register and second generation biometric passports. He also committed to the regulation of CCTV and the storage of DNA on the national database.

He said:

This government is going to transform our politics so the state has far less control over you, and you have far more control over the state. This government is going to break up concentrations of power and hand power back to people, because that is how we build a society that is fair.

Mr Clegg also committed to giving people the opportunity to nominate laws they think should be repealed.

Published 19 May 2010