Total Recall, Total Fail

Election promises broken on an industrial scale, shame there is so little industry.

"Eighty-two per cent (want) a system of “recalling” MPs (....) if they have broken the rules" Source: Survey for The Times (1).

Before the general election, knowing that many voters are dissatisfied with politicians and how government is run, the parties all promised effective reforms. After the victory of Conservatives and Liberal Democrats in 2010, the coalition agreement was published. This contains the following statement:

"We will bring forward early legislation to introduce a power of recall, allowing voters to force a by-election where an MP is found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing and having had a petition calling for a by-election signed by l0% of his or her constituents."

A recall bill was put before Parliament but the proposed procedure for sacking an MP was so bad that it was heavily criticised by experts from across the political spectrum. The recall bill was dropped.

When will the coalition government obey the will of the people by enabling we constituents to remove an MP who is corrupt or has performed badly?

If HM government is too incompetent to legislate on this, then give us the job. Hold a binding referendum to introduce the "recall". And let's add in a "piggy back" ballot proposal to give ourselves the right to obtain a referendum about any public issue (very useful if gov. "forgets" something important).

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1. Poll suggests voters want radical reform of Parliament, The Times May 30, 2009 Philip Webster, Political Editor.

2. The Coalition: our programme for government. Freedom, fairness, responsibility. David Cameron and Nick Clegg for HM government 2010

Guest post bu the
Campaign for direct democracy in Britain Citizens' Initiative and Referendum I&R ~ GB
http://www.iniref.org/
http://www.iniref.org/recall.html The Recall: How it works