Policy Announcements, Tuesday 03 July

Government  

• Gordon Brown has outlined a series of constitutional changes which he says will make the British government a "better servant of the people". MPs would be given the final say on declaring war and on international treaties and would have a "bigger role" in approving public ppointments. Mr Brown also proposed Commons committees for each English region. He added that election day could be moved to weekends and said he would create a national security council. Linked to this he would "regularly publish" a national security strategy. His proposals - in which he suggested a "bill of rights" could eventually be published after public consultation - were not a "final blueprint" but a "route map" towards change, he said.  
• The laws which restrict the right to demonstrate in Parliament Square need to be changed, Gordon Brown has said.  He said that change was needed to balance "the need for public order with the right to public dissent". The new prime minister said he would consult with police, Parliament, civil liberty groups and Westminster council. A 2005 law created an "exclusion zone" inside which all protests required police permission. Critics say it curbs the right to spontaneous protest.  

Liberal Democrats  

• Lib Dem leader Sir Menzies Campbell has reshuffled his front bench - promoting some of the party's rising stars. David Laws takes on the children, schools and families brief and Danny Alexander goes to work and pensions. Lembit Opik is moved from Northern Ireland and Wales to become Lib Dem spokesman on Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. In other moves, David Heath becomes Lib Dem spokesman for Justice and the Lord Chancellor's office and Susan Kramer replaces Alistair Carmichael at transport. Party President Simon Hughes replaces Mr Heath in shadowing Commons leader Harriet Harman. With the education department being split in two, David Laws becomes schools spokesman, taking on Labour's Ed Balls, with Sarah Teather shunted sideways to take on new Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary John Denham.