A popular refrain from politicians at the moment is “parliamentary reform”. parliamentary reform this, parliamentary reform that. Give us PR, state funding of political parties, etc. But what the people want is a general election.

Voters would rather have an early general election to bring in new MPs than make fundamental changes to the parliamentary system, a YouGov poll for the Daily Telegraph has found.

Six in 10 voters want Gordon Brown to call a general election by the autumn rather than waiting until next year, blaming MPs rather than the system in which they operate for the scandal over expenses.

Two thirds of those questioned agreed that there was “nothing fundamentally wrong with Britain’s constitution providing that MPs are honest and competent”.

Despite another poll saying that “radical changes to the political system are overwhelmingly backed by voters”, I think that the YouGov poll is more accurate because people understand the current system – even if they know its not perfect.

Under the current system, people know how their vote affects the political process. They know that they can vote their MP in or out, and that parties need a majority of MPs to form a government – it’s nice and simple. But these reforms muddy the waters and complicate things, and make the individual voters role far less clear.

Another reason is that a general election the people know that they can effect – and they can do it now. Any parliamentary reforms will, of necessity, be beaten out in the back offices of the parties and the public will only get a choice of a few, restricted, options – if any choice at all. And it will be no quick change – I mean, we haven’t even had proper reform in the House of Lords and that was promised a decade or more ago!

A general election is simply a far more pressing issue. Parliamentary reform is important, but a general election more so. A general election is needed to give the political system back its legitimacy after the unelected assurption of Gordon Brown and the MP expenses scandal and it is needed now. Reform can wait whilst an intelligent and workable solution is reached – rather than the idiocy that spills out of the mouths of many (such as the Lib Dem fascination with the anti-democratic PR electoral system).

The call for a general election trumps the call for parliamentary reform in the eyes of the people – and for good reason.