In the week or so leading up to today’s publication of the Kelly report, as his recommendations slowly and inevitably leaked into the news ahead of time, one thing has been striking. And that is the contrast between MPs’ reactions to Kelly’s proposed changes, and the reaction of the general public.

While MPs have railed against travelling up to an hour by train home from Westminster instead of shoring up for the night in a city centre pied-a-terre at taxpayers’ expense, the general public have loudly compared this fairly reasonable journey home with their own daily commutes. And while MPs have pointed to the harm and heartbreak that will result in Kelly’s veto on the employment of family members (rather melodramatic, given that the recommendations will not come into force until after the general election, and even then, may well be watered down), the general public have looked at the employment and equality legislation which binds them, and scratched their heads in bemusement. MPs are not living in the real world, the public cry. From the outside, this looks true, and should be worrying: MPs have the power to shape the real world for the rest of us, after all.

The truth is that nothing that Parliament or Government have done since the expenses scandal has come close to addressing the fundamental question that scandal raised, namely, how can MPs and the general public see things so differently? How can they think it’s acceptable to use our money – above and beyond what we pay them to do their jobs – in order to enrich themselves on the property market, to pay their gardening bills, to even pay their accountants to organise the whole steal for them?

The only answer can be that the relationship between MPs and constituents is broken. Kelly’s recommendations will do nothing to mend it, nor will Legg’s iron fist. MPs may think we want to see them punished. In fact, quite the opposite is true. We want to bring the trust and respect that should exist between MPs and their constituents back from the dead. The first step towards doing that is resuscitating representative democracy through the introduction of open primaries.

The major party leaders have instructed “their” MPs to swallow everything Kelly and Legg throw at them. But it’s not a tightening, but a loosening of grip that is needed from party leaders now. The party leader who first backs Open Up’s call for open primaries in every constituency in the UK will be the person who has made the first step away from the expenses scandal and towards a brighter future. Because in doing so, he will have put power back where it belongs: in the hands of the people.