TOTAL RECALL

The Recall Bill should include all local councillors and not just MP's.

The Queen's Speech today outlined the Coalition Government's proposals for a Recall Bill, whereby any MP who is found guilty of serious wrongdoing could be forced to stand down and face a by-election. 10% of an MP’s constituents would have to sign a petition requesting a recall for a by-election to happen. 

The pressure group 38 Degrees say that the Recall Bill is "a stitch-up", others have described it as a "fudge" and loudly claim that people have been "duped" because the power to deal with bad MP's would still be in the hands of other MP's and not in the hands of the people where it should be! 

Zac Goldsmith, Conservative MP for Richmond Park has stated how "an MP could break all pre-election promises, switch party, refuse to see constituents, all without qualifying for recall."

However, what I find disappointing is that no-one has seen fit to include local councillors in the Bill. In Tameside, we have had two instances in the last four years where a local councillor, having been elected for one particular party, has changed party during their term of office.

We have councillors in Tameside who have waited until after one local election to shut down libraries and who now, after the recent local election, will shortly be announcing the closure of Children's Centres across the borough. Many of these councillors will make such an unpopular decision in the knowledge that they will not face the voters again for three or four years.

Many MP's cut their political teeth as local councillors. Remember, there are only a few hundred MP's, but there are thousands of councillors of all political parties across the country. Therefore, if there is to be any serious reform of our "broken" political system, it has to start at local level. If we root out the bad councillors before any of them become MP's, it would go a long way to cleaning up our politics and to restoring the faith of the people in democracy!

Carl Simmons

Denton South Independent

Wednesday 4th June 2014