On Monday there was a Westminster Hall debate on Russian influence on UK politics and democracy, occasioned by a public petition that gained the required 100,000 signatures.
Allowing such petitions to trigger debates seems a worthwhile experiment, though the one demanding that MPs who change parties should be forced to resign and fight a by-election seems to me misconceived. Don't party whips have enough power as it is?
But it's worth reading the transcript of the debate on Russian interference. Several Liberal Democrats MPs took part – here's Cameron Thomas:
The breadth and depth of Russian influence is so vast and so dangerous to our democracy that no single political party has either the credibility or capacity to fully investigate it. Only a judge-led statutory public inquiry will suffice. The Government have the responsibility to deliver; the future of our democracy requires that they do so.
The House of Commons Library produced a briefing for the debate which is worth a look too.
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