"Cut the number of MPs and put party funding in the hands of the voters" - Clegg

2.30.00pm UTC (GMT +0000) Thu 13th Mar 2008

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg

Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg will this evening call for radical change to fix Britain's 'broken politics'. Nick will challenge the two establishment parties to abandon their vested interests to allow reforms of the political system to regain the trust of the British people. Calling for a Constitutional Convention, led by a 'citizens' jury' of 100 people, to build a new constitution for Britain, Nick will also set out steps that can be taken now including:

• Adopting the Power Commission proposal of allowing every voter to donate £3 from public funds to a party of their choice via the ballot paper in a General Election

• Funding to support political parties to come from cutting the cost of politics in other ways, for example reducing the number of MPs by 150 and cutting the Government's advertising budget

• Banning political donations over £25,000 and limiting political parties to spending less than £10m every year, not just election years

People care, they just don't care about politicians. And that should give us hope. The Liberal Democrats are in a unique position. We're on the outside of the system. So we're the ones who can prise it open and drive the change we need. That's why I'm in politics.