Beyond Westminster - 22/08/2009

Ben Wright asks if public anger over MPs' expenses could pave the way for a change to politics in Britain. He looks at new ways of connecting voters and politicians, from wiki-bills to twitter. The programme also explores the growth of direct democracy, including referendums and a scheme that gives voters power over budgets. We hear from Prof James Fishkin, a pioneer of Deliberative Democracy, a new method inspired by ancient Athenian models. We also hear from YouGov's Peter Kellner, a critic of referendum politics, and the former health secretary, Patricia Hewitt, a fan of Citizen Juries. Plus a discussion about how to revive representative democracy, with contributions from Conservative MP Douglas Carswell, Labour MP Kerry McCarthy and Austen Ivereigh from the grassroots organisation London Citizens.