Image source, Reuters

In a short while, we're expecting to hear the UK's former prime minister Gordon Brown announce recommendations from a report he's carried out into the UK's future.

Here are a few quick facts about him:

• Born in 1951 and brought up in Kirkcaldy, a small coastal town north of Edinburgh
• Worked briefly as a lecturer and a reporter, before being elected as a Labour MP in 1983
• Formed a double act (occasionally an uneasy one) with Tony Blair, dominating British politics for well over a decade as one of the architects of New Labour
• Following Labour's 1997 landslide election win, held the position of chancellor before stepping into the role of prime minister when Blair stepped down in 2007
• Sought to differentiate himself from the era of "spin", stressing his principled politics
• But lasted just three years in office amid a global economic crash, before leading Labour into its worst electoral performance for decades
• Returned to the backbenches as MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, before leaving Westminster in 2015

At 10:00 GMT, Labour will be launching its report on reforms to the UK's political system at an event in Leeds.

First we'll hear from West Yorkshire's Labour mayor, Tracy Brabin, who will introduce former prime minister Gordon Brown, who oversaw the report.

He'll be followed by current Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, who will also take questions from the media.

Stick with us for all the latest updates and analysis.

Image source, Getty Images

On Sunday, Keir Starmer said in an article for the Observer, external that Labour would set the UK on the road to “the biggest-ever transfer of control from Westminster back to the British people”.

But the same paper has also quoted several senior Labour peers voicing concern that the Labour party leader could get "bogged down" in plans to scrap the House of Lords.

The Observer, external reported key Labour figures were warning that Starmer could expend political capital on an issue that few voters are thinking about or clamouring for action on.

It quotes one "Labour peer with influence" as saying: “I would not say it is a backlash, more that he has been made aware of the reality that he could use up a lot of political capital at the expense of other domestic reforms if he goes too fast on this.”

Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent

Sir Keir Starmer is committing to it this morning, although he hasn’t given a firm date.

But remember Labour has favoured scrapping the Lords for some time.

It is a tricky thing to do however – and would lead to some big battles in parliament.

Some in the Labour Party doubt that if Sir Keir became PM, he would spend his early time in power fighting that fight.

Image source, PA Media

One of the most eye-catching proposals in Labour's report is the idea of abolishing the House of Lords and replacing it with an elected body.

But some Conservative peers have been warning against this. Lord Norton told Times Radio he was wary of "Big Bang reform" of the Lords, arguing its detailed scrutiny of bills "improves the law of this country".

However, he said there was "an argument for upping the quality threshold of those appointed" to maintain public trust and reforming the appointments process to improve transparency.

Another Tory peer, Lord Bethell, agreed the Lords "contributes to better laws".

"Its composition is connected to the delivery of that role," he wrote on Twitter, external.

Since parts of the review surfaced (ahead of today's launch at 10:00), Labour MPs have been shedding light on the party’s vision for a more modern parliamentary upper chamber.

Last month, shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Ashworth told Sky News he respected the “great expertise in the House of Lords”, with many peers appointed due to their knowledge of a particular area of society.

But, he stressed, Labour wanted to “bring it into the 21st century” - principally by making it a place people are elected into.

Party leader Sir Keir Starmer has this morning been labelling the House of Lords "indefensible", saying that he hoped the chamber could be abolished and replaced in the first term of a Labour government.

Our post below might leave you wondering what Labour would do if it scrapped the House of Lords.

Its plan is to replace the UK's upper house with a new democratic second chamber - according to proposals revealed by Brown as part of a constitutional review to shape key policies in a future Labour government.

The former PM says this new body would be called the Assembly of Nations and Regions.

Brown said the new second chamber would have “a role in protecting the devolution settlement” - which saw some powers handed from Westminster to elected bodies in Cardiff, Belfast and Edinburgh more than 20 years ago.

He also said it would stop the Sewell Convention - which prevents Westminster from legislating on devolved matters without the consent of the devolved governments - from being “overridden”.

We’re expecting to hear more details on the outcome of the constitutional review from both Brown and Labour leader Keir Starmer in a little while.

Image source, Jonathan Brady/PA Wire

Former prime minister Gordon Brown gave Scottish journalists a briefing ahead of today's event - during which Labour is expected to set out plans for how it would overhaul the way the UK is governed.

Brown told reporters that “the current House of Lords is indefensible”.

He said in most legislative systems around the world, the second chamber of parliament was relatively small and usually smaller than the first.

He went on to compare the political setup in the US - where there are 100 members in the upper house (the Senate) to cover 300 million people - with that of the UK, where the House of Lords has “800-plus [members] to cover only 60 million people”.

"Therefore the current system is indefensible," he added.

Brown also suggested the issue could "come to a head" when Boris Johnson publishes his resignation honours list - which could include several new peers.

The Labour leader is also asked about the selection of candidates for the next general election, due for 2024.

Specifically, he is quizzed on whether his predecessor, Jeremy Corbyn, will be allowed to contest his seat in Islington North.

Corbyn currently sits in the Commons as an independent MP after being suspended as a member of the Parliamentary Labour Party.

Starmer says he "can't see the circumstances" in which Corbyn will stand to be elected as a Labour MP during the vote.

Asked whether Corbyn might contest the seat as an independent, he says "I can only speak for the Labour Party; I can't speak for Jeremy on this".

He explains that there is an ongoing process to pick candidates across the country, starting with those expected to run in marginal seats not held by Labour.

In answer to another question from our colleague Mishal Husain on BBC Radio 4, Sir Keir Starmer says he doesn't want to abolish private schools.

He says the institutions add "a huge amount" to the UK, and he is not against them.

However, he says he would like to see more of the money used to fund tax breaks for private schools to instead be used to invest in state schools across the country.

The topic was the subject of debate between Starmer and Prime Minister Rishi Sunak at Prime Minister's Questions last week - with the Labour leader calling on his counterpart to end the "scandal" of tax breaks for private schools.

Sir Keir Starmer is asked during his Radio 4 interview about a stark warning from the CBI that stagflation - low growth and high prices - will last well into the current decade without government action.

He's also asked if he believes membership of the European Union's single market - which the UK left as part of Brexit - would boost economic growth.

"No, at this stage I don't think it would," Starmer says, and adds that he doesn't think there's a case for the UK rejoining the European Union or the single market.

However, Starmer says he does think "there's a case for a better Brexit" and adds that he believes trade has gone down because the deal the UK has got "is not a very good deal".

A little earlier on BBC Breakfast, presenter Sally Nugent put the government's response to Labour's report to Sir Keir Starmer.

She referred to a statement from a government source that says: "This report highlights what we already know about Labour - that while the government is focusing on the major issues people care about, Keir Starmer is playing politics with topics only relevant in Westminster.

"The government is working to secure the economy, improve the NHS and our schools, and tackle illegal immigration- they are our priorities, and noticeably the Labour Party has no plan for any of them.”

Starmer responded by calling the comments "complete and utter nonsense".

He said he had no interest in what the Conservatives had to say and that his focus was on people across the country who were "crying out for a government on their side".

The Labour leader is quizzed on how radical his ideas really are, with no clear timeframe for them.

Starmer stresses his plans for devolution - a plan to divert away from Westminster certain decision-making powers over areas like transport, economic growth, housing and jobs.

He promises that "that isn't an academic exercise" and that it will be delivered by a Labour government.

Abolishing the House of Lords is only "one part of the report", he emphasises.

Starmer is now speaking to BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

He says "yes", he wants the House of Lords to be abolished, and that was one of the motivations behind the commissioning of the report carried out by former PM Gordon Brown.

Starmer adds that there's too much power in Westminster as things stand.

Sir Keir Starmer is now speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

You can listen here.

Nick Eardley
Chief political correspondent

Image source, Stefan Rousseau/PA Wire

Sir Keir Starmer is promising a massive transfer of power today.

Labour wants to persuade voters it has answers to concerns that power is concentrated in London and too distant for many.

Gordon Brown has been working on this plan for two years.

I’ve seen a draft over the weekend and it's long and detailed.

Proposals include more revenue raising powers for local government, 50,000 civil service jobs being moved out of London and yes, scrapping the House of Lords.

But it’s worth noting this isn’t a firm commitment from Labour today to implement the full thing.

The party is going to “consult” on the findings and sees them as a “direction of travel”.

But today seems to be about the big idea, rather than the fine-tuned details.

That is something we’ve seen before from Sir Keir – for example with his approach to immigration (no commitment on numbers, but a belief immigration isn’t the solution to labour problems).

Strikes have become more and more common over the last couple of months. Workers in the rail industry have been requesting better pay and working conditions.

The RMT union rejected an offer from the group representing train companies which sought to stop strikes in the run-up to Christmas.

Asked about the RMT's decision, Sir Keir Starmer called for better dialogue between the government and the trade union.

He says the government has to "get involved and get people around the table".

Starmer adds: "I say to the government, get off your hands, roll up your sleeves, get on the pitch and help to resolve this, just as has been done in Wales, just as has been done in Scotland".

Asked about whether the RMT is wrong to reject the government's latest offer, Starmer says he is "not going to start saying which side is right, which side is wrong".

You can read the latest on train strikes here.

He goes on to say Labour would aim to abolish the House of Lords "as quickly as possible".

Starmer suggests the move, along with all other proposals in the report from the party's commission on the UK's future, could be achieved within Labour's first term in government - but he didn't commit to a timeframe.

He says all the recommendations in the report, including the proposal to abolish the House of Lords, are "deliberately written in a way that means they can be implemented within the first five years of a Labour government".

Starmer is asked if he would scrap the House of Lords if elected.

"Yes", he replies - saying he thinks the House is "indefensible".

He says anyone who looks at it "would struggle to say that it should be kept".

Starmer says Labour wants to replace the House of Lords with an "elected chamber that has a really strong mission".