The expenses scandal has destroyed public confidence in politicians. But it was the symptom of a wider problem: our political system is rotten. The Liberal Democrats are the only party that will radically shake up politics to make it fair, and put power in the hands of citizens, rather than politicians. We will give people a real say in who governs the country by introducing fair votes. We will stop big donations, give people the power to sack corrupt MPs and make sure every single MP and Lord pays full British taxes. Labour has made Britain less fair by taking away our hard-won rights and freedoms, often supported by the Conservatives. The Liberal Democrats are the only party that believes in a fairer, freer Britain, where everyone gets fair treatment and everyone’s privacy is respected.

Make votes fair – We will change politics forever and abolish safe seats by introducing a fair, more proportional voting system for MPs, and for the House of Lords. By giving voters the choice between people as well as parties, it means they can stick with a party but punish a bad MP by voting for someone else.

Give you the right to sack MPs who have broken the rules – If an MP has acted corruptly and breaks the rules, there should be a mechanism by which they can be sacked. The Liberal Democrats would introduce a ‘recall’ system in which a small percentage of constituents could force a by-election for any MP suspended for wrongdoing. Power should be in the hands of voters at all times, not just on Election Day.

Get big money out of politics – Politics should be a battle of ideas, not marketing budgets. No-one should be able to buy influence or buy an election. We will take big money out of politics by capping donations and spending throughout the electoral cycle.

Make all MPs and Lords pay full British taxes – Top Conservative donor Lord Ashcroft gets to vote on the laws of Britain, but he hasn’t come clean about whether he pays full British taxes on all his earnings – or whether he’s got non-domiciled tax status meaning he doesn’t pay tax on offshore income. We believe everyone who decides laws in Parliament should pay full British taxes. We will pass a law to ensure they do.

Introduce a Freedom Bill to restore and protect our civil liberties – Liberal Democrats have put together all the freedoms that have been undermined by Labour and the Tories in the last twenty years to restore them in a single Act of Parliament. We will scrap ID cards; get innocent people off the DNA database; regulate CCTV; allow people to protest at Parliament; stop councils from spying on people; and stop unfair extradition to the US. See http://freedom.libdems.org.uk/

End plans to spy on your email and internet use – Labour want companies to store information about your email and internet use – even storing data about what you do on social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. This is a huge waste of money and time, which we will scrap. We will ensure your private data is kept safe.

Get innocent people off the DNA database to focus it on criminals – Your DNA contains some of the most private, personal information about you. We will remove innocent people from the database and stop storing DNA from innocent people and children in the future, too.