Got this email today, seems a good idea to me Dear Sir We're so very close to getting a new law that would give people the power to sack their MP between elections, if they misbehave. The vote's next week. But so far, not enough MPs are backing it. Labour MPs like yours are dragging their heels. Maybe they don't trust their voters enough to allow us to hold them to account. Or maybe they just think it doesn't matter to us. Let's prove them wrong. Can you send your MP, Peter Hain, an email asking him to vote for the new law? If you click the link below, as well as emailing him, you'll be copying in the other candidates who're running against him at the next election. MPs won't want to be on the wrong side of their voters - especially if their political rivals are on the right side. The vote's next week, and he's making up his mind right now. Please click here to email Peter Hain today: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/recall-vote At the moment, an MP could switch parties to the BNP and their constituents couldn't sack them. [1] They could fail to turn up in Parliament for five years and we'd have no power to make them change their behaviour. There's so many other things MPs can do between elections that go unchecked. And here's our chance to stop this - and improve democracy! [2] There are already 15 Labour MPs (and 70 MPs overall) who have backed our new law. But that's not enough. [3] If we get more Labour MPs like Peter Hain on board, we'll win. Ultimately, it comes down to this: does Peter Hain trust his voters? If hundreds of his constituents email him now, we can prove this is a test of his attitude to democracy that he can't afford to fail. Please click here to email Peter Hain: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/recall-vote Thanks for being involved, Becky, Susannah, Bryony, Blanche, India & the 38 Degrees team PS: Our new law - written and paid for by 38 Degrees members - wouldn't mean MPs being sacked every day. But giving voters the power to sack bad MPs when they're truly awful is a rare chance to improve how democracy works. Email your MP here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/recall-vote NOTES: [1] The Huffington Post: I could switch to the BNP and not get sacked: http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2014/10/19/recall-of-mps-bill-sack-zac-goldsmith_n_6010898.html [2] 38 Degrees blog: Find out more about recall here: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/?s=recall [3] 38 Degrees blog: Find out which MPs are supporting the new law here: https://secure.38degrees.org.uk/recall-where-they-stand
While a good idea it doesn't go far enough IMHO, the recall mechanism would only come into force if an MP had committed an offense and been sentenced to less than 12 months, more than 12 months and they are automatically recalled (can't be an MP), or if the MP is suspended from the House of Commons for over 21 days. Even then there are so many caveats that it make the law all but useless, such as needing 10% of the electorate to sign a recall petition, the recalled MP being able to re-stand in the by-election. Unless they are talking about the proposed bill put forward by Zac Goldsmith, but AFAIK that has even less support.
There is no way a majority of MPs are going to vote for a new law that will make their cushy job less secure between general elections.
It's all a bit odd. Nick Clegg is claiming that allowing the constituents to trigger a recall is undemocratic as apparently it would only be used by rich men to get mobs of pliable constituents to sign petition against MPs that vote for gay marriage or against fox hunting or something. Should we be thankfully that the Lib Dems are standing up to protect us from the gullibility of the electorate?
I kind of get his point, I'm guessing by "rich men" he means media moguls like Rupert Murdoch using his money to pump out negative press about an MP, there are a lot of people who are influenced by what they read in news papers.
Off course not the general public are far to stupid to know when the MP is ripping us off, better leave it to the upper classes and politicians to look after our welfare Personally sacking them isn't enough some should be shot.
A lot of it comes down to what you think of the population in total. Do you think they are ignorant sheep to be lead to the pools by The Sun, The Mirror, The BBC or some random opinionated businessman. Or do you think that in total people discount a fair bit of what they read and see. And that the tabloids follow their readers views in search of sales rather than form them for political reasons? If you don't trust the electorate then is democracy really your thing?
Trust and democracy are two very different things, what exactly are you trusting the electorate to do ? Vote, make good decisions, choose a candidate that suits their best interests, or those of the country as a whole.
There should definitely be something in place where an MP can be voted out imo. However that would require an unbiased source of information to act as a foundation for the claim that the MP deserves to be voted out. Something which will probably never happen...
