Gordon Brown's YouTube 'constitutionally questionable'

7 Jul 2009

Gordon Brown's use of YouTube to unveil policy initiatives has been criticised by a House of Lords report into the Parliamentary Standards Bill.

Brown made his YouTube appearance to announce the bill as a response to the growing furore over the expenses scandal.

However, his use of the medium instantly drew criticism, most notably from his then communities secretary Hazel Blears.

Politicians have increasingly used YouTube, most notably David Cameron's clips filmed in his kitchen, as a means of getting their message across. But this was the first time it was used to announce a new bill.

The House of Lords criticised Brown's decision to launch the bill through YouTube and said he should have firstly announced the legislation through parliament. It also branded the move as "constitutionally unorthodox".

Separately, YouTube is planning to switch its members over to its new layout on the July 15. All new accounts created will have the new design.

YouTube has been testing the new layout for several months but so far it has had difficulty winning over its users.

A recent blog posting by the project management team attracted a large number of replies with comments supporting the current version.

The number of UK users who watch online videos is on the rise. According to a survey by comScore the number of videos viewed in the UK is around 5bn, a 47% rise on the 2008.

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