Opportunity of a lifetime for fire safety lobbying

摘要

A striking feature of major reforms in British government during the centuries has been how their impact emerges only after they have actually been achieved. This is true of changes arising after the famous 1837 Act; financial moves by Gladstone in his Tory Exchequer days; and, even more, Lloyd George's efforts prior to, during and immediately after the First World War. History books have still to emerge with recognition of change under, primarily, Tony Blair and accomplices over the 1997-2007 period. King's College London Research Professor, Vernon Bogdanor, has recently and rightly called this 'An Era of Constitutional Reform'. Bogdanor points out how most of the reforms have, very rarely for Britain, been achieved under referendum. Here proportional voting has become predominant. First-past-the post is now strictly confined. Britain's regional and, of course, the European elections take the former routes hitherto backed by Liberal Democrats.