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Your mission: to save a House of ill repute
The revelations over MPs’ expenses and this week’s departure of the Commons Speaker have brought Westminster into widespread disrepute. The Tribune asked three politicians for their views on how confidence can be restored in our political system
A DEMOCRACY requires elected officials to be held to account and that can at times be uncomfortable, writes Jeremy Corbyn.
In all the criticism of MPs we should not forget the role of Parliament; its strengths and weaknesses.
Since the 17th century English Civil War, Parliament has been sovereign and independent; an absolutely crucial element in a democracy.
The problem – and the new Speaker will have a big hand in altering this – is the power any government has over Parliament.
Prime ministers make all appointments through an enormous system of opaque patronage; the government of the day proposes virtually all legislation and controls the programme of business. The Speaker, acting alone and unchallenged, can decide which, if any, amendments to bills are debated.
Democracy is about electing people to office and holding them to account. It is also about an independent judiciary and a free press. And it is about electing a Parliament that can control what executive functions are carried out and bring real change.
Democracy brought us all the right to vote, a universal health service and welfare state. The current mood of anti-politics has nothing to say on the issues of war, peace, liberties or living standards.
In all the new fervor for transparency we could get something good; a real debate about our democracy and its good, and bad, sides.
Jeremy Corbyn is Labour MP for Islington North.
OUR democracy is in crisis, with revelations about MPs’ expenses just one more symptom of how far the system is failing us, writes Andrew Myer.
The Green Party wants to change this fundamentally, to make the system fairer, more open and more accountable. We want politics to work with the community, for the community.
Our vision includes:
* more local and regional decision-making, with the public actively involved at all levels;
* elections by proportional representation, so people know their vote always counts;
* greater cross-party co-operation, to weaken the hold of ideologies and factions;
* the voting age reduced to 16;
* the House of Lords replaced by a wholly elected second chamber;
* constitutional functions of the monarchy abolished;
* a recall system, where politicians must step down to face re-election if enough electors demand it;
* real freedom of information and greater openness of government procedures, to allow genuine and informed debate;
* an EU which is not a super-state but rests authority in its elected rather than non-elected representatives, and devolves more decisions to the local level.
In short, the Green Party believes the natural place for decision-making is as close as possible to the people affected. What we are proposing is a New Deal for Democracy because otherwise the future is too bleak to consider. And the current crisis offers a wonderful opportunity to make this happen!
Andrew Myer is a member of Islington Green Party.
I AM sure many people are asking what we can do to improve standards in public life following the MPs’ expenses saga, writes Gary Doolan.
The public have completely lost confidence in a political system where some politicians from all parties seem to be above the law, and unaccountable to the electorate.
The scandal has opened up a much-needed review of the political system. There is a need to ensure politicians are held accountable to the people who elect them, at any time during their term of office and not just once every four years.
Do we need so many MPs in the House of Commons? How can we ensure politicians really take on board representations from the electorate, rather than ignore them and do as their parties instruct. Should we have a system where politicians can be removed from office by the electorate at any time?
Important questions are now being asked, such as: When are politicians going to really listen to the people who elect them, as our two Islington MPs do? And when politicians fail to listen, how do we remove them within their term of office?
How can we get local people more engaged in politics, in bringing all politicians to book.
Politicians, local and national, need to be mindful that they are there to represent the electorate first, and their parties second. Let’s hope some good comes from the root-and-branch review of politics, and that confidence is restored.
Gary Doolan is Labour councillor for St Peter’s. |
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