There is a lot of cynicism and this is one way in which we can now start to involve and engage parliamentarians and the public

Graham Allen Labour MP

Members of the public, experts and frontline workers in various fields would then be able to input their ideas into the debate via email.

Mr Allen says the idea would mean better scrutiny of new proposals and would help to counter cynicism towards politics in the wake of the lowest general election turnout since 1918.

Standing up for Parliament

"I think firstly we need to win the principle in terms of Parliament standing up for itself and saying we have the right to look at legislation before it's laid in front of us for a yes or a no," Mr Allen told BBC News Online.

Under the proposals, plans for new legislation would be discussed outside the Commons chamber in a less confrontational style.

Allen: Parliament must stand up for itself

Mr Allen says he has never seen a serious amendment made in the standing committees, where bills are currently scrutinised line-by-line as they go through the Commons.

His plans would see parliamentarians putting plans under scrutiny and questioning key figures, such as the governor of the Bank of England on a banking bill, from a much earlier stage.

Those discussions would be broadcast on the internet and people invited to e-mail their ideas and views to a member of Commons staff tasked solely with sifting out the most useful contributions.

Frontline opinions

Those ideas could come from City executives or those running a credit union in Gateshead, suggested Mr Allen.

"There are masses of great ideas out there which, if we take this seriously and people knew their suggestions were being acknowledged, could generate a lot of really good stuff."

Cook is looking at the whole Commons reform issue

Although the idea was not revolutionary and could easily use existing technology, argued the MP, it could still be an important tool in the battle against apathy.

"There is a lot of cynicism and this is one way in which we can now start to involve and engage parliamentarians and the public."

Better laws

Mr Allen argues the result would also be better laws and he wonders whether the mistakes made in establishing the Child Support Agency would have happened had such a scheme been used.

It was not his intention to delay the passing of legislation, he added, saying the eight week consultation could start straight after the Queen's Speech.

The Nottingham North MP has written to the Leader of the House of Commons, Robin Cook, to urge him to take up the idea, as well as to every secretary of state with a bill due to go before Parliament this year.

Mr Cook is understood already to be looking to develop such pre-legislative scrutiny, as well as examining ways to increase public participation.

Democracy think-tank the Hansard Society believes Mr Allen's idea could be one "really useful" way to re-engage the public.

Wealth of untapped experience

A society spokeswoman said: "There is a wealth of experience outside the usual suspects that very often is not heard for all sorts of reasons - geographical, lack of publicity, whatever."

The society has already been involved in various pilot projects involving e-mail contributions.

A consultation exercise for a House of Lords examination of the issue of stem cell research had attracted "masses of contributions", added the spokeswoman.