The Independent Group is a chance to change politics for the better, but they're going about it the wrong way

One thing is certain, the breakout group of MPs did not come from nowhere. This is the biggest admission we’ve seen that there is a problem in Westminster

We’re often reminded that the Chinese word for “crisis” contains two symbols – one for danger and one for opportunity or juncture. You don’t need me to rehearse the evidence for a crisis in our politics right now, but what about the opportunity? What can we do to ensure this landmark moment is used to the fullest extent so that our politics is changed for good?

The newly formed Independent Group (TIG) of MPs have taken a gamble. Assuming they have a genuine commitment to changing politics, they are taking the risk that a broken system – and most significantly one built on the arithmetic of first-past-the-post – can fix itself by rearranging the deckchairs.

We know that TIG numbers don’t stack up to a considerable opposition, that there will be genuine teething troubles as they try to align their different philosophies, and that they may well struggle to make inroads given the electoral realities. As Caroline Lucas has pointed out, the Greens have one MP with a million voters, which has to be a warning to any new party.

One thing is certain – TIG did not come from nowhere. This is the biggest admission we’ve seen yet that there is a problem with our politics.

When politicians vote with their feet (outside from the Commons, that is) we know things have got bad. The threat of a harder brand of tribalism in both the major parties has inspired the “Tiggers”, and I have been encouraged by the signal they have sent for the emergence of a respectful and kinder politics. That is something we have been arguing for at Compassion in Politics since our launch in October 2018.

We are, however, yet to be convinced that a new grouping, or even a new party, will deliver a genuine improvement. We believe there is a better way to deliver the vital changes many of us want to see in British politics. Creating another party would mean trying to fix the system using the same tools that have caused the breakdown in the first place.

Instead of asking more MPs to defect from their parties, to abandon long-held allegiances and loyalties, there is a simpler way: the formation of a new alliance that cuts across all parties; one that isn’t founded on allegiance to a group – with insiders and outsiders – but on a unifying principle.

Our goal is to enable just such a recalibration, with the goal of putting compassion first. We now have the support of parliamentarians from six different parties (including TIG member Heidi Allen) and activists and academics ranging from Noam Chomsky to Cerys Matthews and Ruby Wax. I don’t know any MPs who entered politics without a desire to make the world a better place. But somehow that desire gets clouded by the whipping system, by the need to put party loyalty ahead of national interest, by pressure from lobbyists and by the wielding of power.

So how could that work in practice? To start with it could insist that two requirements are placed on all new legislation and policy: that no measure be introduced that leaves the most vulnerable in our society worse off or that benefits this generation to the detriment of the next.

In a single stroke many of our most pressing political problems – inequality, poverty and climate change – could begin to be unpicked. Straightforward, radical and fair. These are not pie-in-the-sky, woolly-minded ideals but practical workable measures, versions of which have been shown to work elsewhere. Look to Wales, where the Future Generations Act is ensuring legislation protects the wellbeing of the public and the future of the environment, and look to New Zealand and Finland where a parliamentary commissioner for the environment and a committee for the future respectively play similar safeguarding roles.

Since our launch we have already seen policy changes being justified on the basis of compassion. These are refreshing indications of what might be possible if MPs on all sides agreed to put one unifying purpose first, whatever their differences on priorities, strategy or execution. You might wonder what might be achievable if politicians asserted loyalty to their principles ahead of their parties, their whips and their individual ambitions. Well, the post-war consensus that led to the founding of the welfare state is a good marker of the possibilities when common welfare is put first.

The upheaval in Westminster over the last few weeks has opened up the chance to re-calibrate our political system. TIG may have started to nudge our politicians towards a new kind of politics but we will only make the most of this opportunity if a genuine and compassionate new alignment cuts across party boundaries, rather than simply asking MPs to transfer their loyalties to a new ship in the old ocean.