BRITAIN is suffering a democratic crisis, left-wing Labour politicians warned today as they called for reforms to break up the tight control of power held in Westminster. 

Speaking at a meeting at The World Transformed festival in Liverpool, Labour MP Jon Trickett said it was his view that the British state is not fit for purpose.

“The Civil Service and British state is not structured in a way … that can deliver to our people,” he said. “I’ve come to the conclusion we need to disaggregate the British state, we need to take it apart and put it back together on a new basis.”

Labour MP for Cynon Valley Beth Winter said that the roots of the democratic crisis facing Britain lies “in an outdated, overcentralised British state, an unwritten constitution, imbalanced economics and a clear concentration of power in the south-east of England.” 

Ms Winter said that while Wales was fortunate to have a devolved Labour-led government, she accused Westminster of “running roughshod over our devolved settlements.

“And this Tory government is the worst in many respects that we have ever experienced,” she said, citing “appalling” pieces of legislation such as the Elections Bill. 

She accused the Tories of breaking up democratic institutions with their recent levelling-up development fund, which, she said, bypasses devolved powers and goes straight to local authorities. 

Ms Winter said she wanted to see further devolution in Britain, adding that decisions should be made at the most local level possible, with Westminster only calling the shots when they can’t be made elsewhere. 

The session also heard from Labour peer Pauline Bryan, who called for steps to be made to change the constitution in Scotland led by working people, in a similar way recently tried in Chile.