Constitutional reform, New Labour in power and public trust in government

Labour in opposition promised much on constitutional reform and the refounding of British democracy on more pluralist lines bur ministers have seemed much less committed to this agenda in government. In an autumn 2000 survey, public attitudes rewards enacted constitutional changes (especially devolution and human rights) remain strongly supportive and are more liberal on key current issues (such as the treatment of asylum seekers) than most political elites suspect. There has been a regrowth of support for electoral reform although responses here are still sensitive to the wording used to describe reform proposals. Public trust in government recovered dramatically in the immediate aftermath of the 1997 election. But since mid-1998 this position has decayed once again and is as bad now as in the early 1990s. New forms of sleaze and spin issues have damaged Labour's standing and fuelled voters' scepticism about government in general. Citizens back more radical measures to democratise policy-making, ensure freedom of information and regulate political sleaze than Labour has yet introduced. The long-run legitimacy problems of the British polity have not been alleviated.