Gordon Brown will be asked by a powerful committee of MPs tomorrow to immediately introduce fundamental reforms for the appointment of peers following the "cash for honours" scandal that has dogged the Labour party for almost two years.

A report seen by the Guardian calls for a complete change in the appointment of peerages, a new corruption act and fresh powers for party funding watchdogs to take tougher action against parties breaking the law. The main recommendations in the 91-page report include:

* cutting the "marketable value" of a peerage as a political honour by saying it will not allow the person to sit in the Lords.

• * insisting all peers pay British taxes, ending "ad hoc" rules that allowed Tory peer Lord Laidlaw to fail to honour his pledge that he would cease to be a tax exile once he got a peerage. The change is also a coded warning to Lord Ashcroft, the Tory deputy chairman, that he should clarify publicly that he pays tax in Britain
• *publication of all people recommended for peerages - so the public know who is on the list - and their merits for the job can be properly examined
• * Gordon Brown and all successors as prime ministers to renounce their right to create peerages. Nor should they appoint the people who vet nominations to the House of Lords
• * a new corruption law - keeping the old Honours (Prevention of Abuses) Act but adding new provisions allowing MPs and peers to be prosecuted for bribery.
• * enhancing the powers of the Electoral Commission, to act against political parties breaking laws on donations.

The report, which makes 44 recommendations in total, concludes with a direct plea to the prime minister not to wait any longer to take action.

MPs say: "The current prime minister could make changes without needing parliamentary approval. For example, he could implement tomorrow all the changes we suggest to the House of Lords appointment procedures. He could call on all parties in future to submit long lists of nominees to the Appointments Commission without legislation, and give the commission the formal power of selection. He could undertake never to veto or change any decision on either honours or peerages, effectively withdrawing himself from the process.

"The point is that it could be done now if the government wanted to, we believe it should, as an immediate and proper response to the lessons to be learned from recent events."

The report from the Commons' public administration committee, chaired by Labour MP Tony Wright, exonerates the police and the Electoral Commission for their roles in the cash for honours affair. It goes into considerable detail to show that Scotland Yard, which was attacked for spending more than £1m on the 18-month long investigation, would have had great difficulty in proving a charge under the 80-year-old corruption law.

Read full article here. (The Guardian)