UK's Brown to give plans for scandal-hit parliament

By Matt Falloon

LONDON (Reuters) - British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will on Wednesday unveil plans for cleaning up parliament, whose authority has been hurt by an expenses scandal, and try to regain the initiative after fervent speculation over his future.

Brown, who has for now stamped out calls to quit in the wake of disastrous European elections and several ministerial resignations, wants to restore public trust in parliament after a scandal which has scarred all political parties.

"What we have to do now is to take action in order to modernise parliament to make it more transparent and make it more accountable," Brown's spokesman told reporters on Tuesday.

Brown is expected to reopen the debate on electoral reform, look at ways to make the unelected upper house of parliament -- the House of Lords -- more representative and seek to legislate for an independent regulator of parliament.

It will take some time to come to any conclusion about how best to change Britain's political system -- especially given a wide range of views across parliament -- but Brown is keen to see some results ahead of an election due by June 2010.

Labour fared poorly in last week's European elections, with its worst performance in a national vote since 1910 and slipping into third behind the main opposition Conservatives and the anti-European Union UK Independence Party.

Polls point to a big Conservative win in the next British election and Brown needs to win back support within his party as well as among voters by showing he has the policies to shape Britain's future after 12 years of Labour rule.

He is also banking on a turnaround in the economy to improve his and Labour's fortunes.