Perhaps it was naive to believe that this Prime Minister would ever deliver real change, but elements of the reform package laid out by Gordon Brown in his statement to parliament on Wednesday were clearly designed to do no more than neutralise the issue of expenses before the election. I argued in an earlier post that what we need is a precise, targeted package of reforms. What we are being presented with is a glut of hurried, ill-conceived, crowd-pleasing measures. Each element carefully selected for pure partisan advantage. Some elements - such as the recall mechanism and proposals around enhanced powers for select committees - are sensible, targeted reforms. Others, such as the proposals on alternative voting systems, are naked political moves designed to put the Tories on the wrong side of the argument.

In the absence of front-page headlines it was always likely that politics would intrude, the momentum for change dissipate, and parliament settle back into the old familiar routines. We are already seeing the consensus around the need for reform fracture along party lines. Without pressure from below, that process will only accelerate. Some elements in the House are deliberately playing a long game in the hope that time and voter apathy will draw the sting from the issue so it is crucial that the public stay actively engaged.

Not so long ago, this would have meant the hard slog of grassroots activism by local communities, associations and other interested groups, including local newspapers. With the advent of the internet, it has never been easier. A range of tools are available to help you monitor parliament and keep tabs on your MP, from the excellent They Work For You, The Public Whip and Parliament sites, through to social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook and Myspace. Most MPs keep blogs and actively encourage voter engagement through their websites. So it is a fiction that MPs are untouchable. MPs have never been so accessible. Processes and mechanisms are there to ensure accountability and so there really is no excuse. If we let our MPs off the hook and fail to achieve the renewal and reform we are hoping for, we really will have nobody but ourselves to blame.