This is a constitutional crisis. Dave dare not blow it

Fraser Nelson says that the scale of public disgust at the MPs’ expenses scandal presents the next Prime Minister with a huge challenge — and a huge opportunity. If Cameron devolves power to voters, he will be rewarded. But if he fails, the punishment will be swift

It will be a brave parliamentary candidate who pins on a rosette, of any colour, and goes campaigning alone this weekend. There are just over two weeks until the European and local elections on 4 June, and what might be an historic defeat for Labour. But right now the safest place for any representative of a major political party is stockaded safely within the precincts of the Palace of Westminster. Beyond its high railings, the distrust with which the British public has long viewed its political class has turned into outright contempt. And this crisis goes much deeper than the present scandal over expenses. It is nothing less than a collapse of confidence in British democracy as a whole.

The dog food, the manure, KitKats and the dredging of the moat have certainly kept us stunned and appalled for the past few days, but even outrages such as these do not explain the sheer strength of the public reaction. Words like ‘thieves’, ‘frauds’ and ‘looters’ are now routinely applied to our elected representatives, and few are keeping score of which party is most guilty. The feeling, reflected in opinion polls, is that all the major political parties have had their hands deep in the taxpayer’s pocket, and (even worse) that the ballot box is no longer an effective tool of redress. This is why we are at such a dangerous juncture in Britain’s constitutional history.

For all its pageantry and self-regard, the House of Commons has now become the least trusted and least popular legislature in western Europe save for in Italy (which, by no coincidence, is the only country to pay its politicians more than we do).