Less-Than-Total Recall

MPs have passed the bill giving constituents the power to recall them with some, but not all, of the amendments which had been proposed to make it easier to use.

One amendment passed by 204 votes to 125 was to reduce the number of sitting days for which an MP has to be suspended by the House of Commons before becoming subject to a recall petition by half, to 10 days rather than 20.

Other amendments which were agreed gave power to trigger a recall process in cases of expenses fraud where an MP was given a non-custodial sentence, and in cases where information about historic wrongdoing came to light after an MP was elected.

Some of the other amendments, such as one from Zac Goldsmith which took the House of Commons privileges committee out of the process, were not agreed, however.

The bill now goes to the House of Lords.

I'm pleased to see there is some movement on this though I would have liked to see a stronger bill, provided the recall mechanism is not made so easy to trigger that it effectively gives people who don't like the result of an election in the first place the opportunity to try to reverse their defeat.

Comments

Jim said…
I dont think it would ever do that Chris. unless of course my MP acted in utter disregard.

Lets face it here, I am (or at least was until June) one of the highest watchers in Copeland of political goings on. I never did particularly like my MP, nor did i like the election result much. I also did not like any response he ever gave me to a concern i rased, if he sent one that is (think i had 2 out of 18 letters). even so, he was not my choice, but i respect the fact he was the choice for others. Never once did i suggest Jamie Reed be Recalled, not once. Jamie, for all his faults, has not broken the rules enough to warrant a recall.

in fact could you honestly imagine the campaign i would have to launch to do that?

even when voting season was in and there were national campaigns then I mean

J Reed (Lab): 19699 (46.04%)
C Whiteside (Con): 15866 (37.08%)
F Hollowell (LDem): (4365) (10.2%)
C Jeferson BNP: 1474 (3.44%)
T Caket-knowles UKIP: 994 (2.32%)
J Perry Green: 389 (0.91%)
Majority: 3833 (8.96%)

I dont remind you of that for badness, I do it to show how difficult it would be for me to raise a recall petition in order to kick out an MP with no wrong doing.

Where would i start? form a coalition between yourself, Frank Hollowell and Jill Perry and take a long walk door knocking??
maybe organise a meeting somewhere so we can all back a recall action~?

In short, people would use recall for recalls intended purpose, we are all big enough to say, "oh, ok maybe win next time"

its time the politicians really left that sort of decision to the people.

Chris Whiteside said…
I'm sure you speak for the vast majority of people, Jim, in that you can see the difference between recalling someone who has genuinely done something out of order, and using recall to try to reverse an election result you don't like.

That's why, if the election result you quote had been a little bit different and I had been in a position to cast a vote in Parliament, I would have voted for the Zac Goldsmith amendment.

The thing is, there are always a few headbangers who will try any trick in the book to get what they want whether it is democratic or not, and there are also a certain number of people who will sign almost anything that is put in front of them.

When I was a councillor it was always worth checking if there were two opposing petitions handed in for and against the same proposal, to check the lists to see how many people had signed both. There often were some.

The aim has to be to make it easy enough to trigger that it can be used when there is a real case for recall, and not so easy that the headbangers and the "sign anything" brigade can get the signatures for a recall petition when there isn't such a case.
Jim said…
Probably do speak for the vast majority of people Chris, thats true. That is why in this instance there is no call for it, If an MP does break the rules to warrent it, then, it is, I would argue not the peoples prerogative, but the peoples duty to do so. The people are the voters and they are the taxpayers, that makes them the Employer.

if you work in a small garage with 4 other mechanics and you are stealing the tools, not doing your job, and being an idiot to customers would you stand in front of your colleagues (the 4 other mechanics) to decide your fate??

No, the boss would drag you into the office, and then decide if you should be sacked or not. Same principle, the people are the BOSS, the MPs are the Mechanics.

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