Monday, June 27, 2011

Why allowing the recall of MPs is a bad idea

Steve Shaw from Unlock Democracy has an article on Lib Dem Voice in support of the idea of allowing voters to force a by-election "if they have lost confidence or trust in them for any reason".

I cannot support his idea. It would mean, as people are already pointing out in the comments on that post, that in many seats defeated parties would spend their time collecting signatures in an attempt to have the result of the previous general election set aside. Zac Goldsmith's Recall of Elected Representatives Bill envisages that it would take 10 per cent of the electorate signing a petition to force a by-election.

If our politics were to move in this direction it would be bound to make relations between the parties even more rancorous. It would also make it harder for a government to bring in necessary but unpopular measures and take its chance at the next election.

For those reasons, I do not find the idea of allowing the recall of MPs an attractive one,

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