Politics Four

Politics Four

In the previous blogs on politics I have advocated doing away with party politics and suggested different ways in which MPs may be forced to resign. I am also in favour of MPs electing the Prime Minister as well as such other Ministers and Deputies as thought necessary. MPs, by virtue of a successful vote of no confidence, can also force a Minister or Deputy Minister to resign from office.

I am strongly in favour of the following requirements being made law.
Candidates for election as MPs must have spent the first sixteen years of their life, or at least five years as an adult, living in the constituency in which they wish to stand for election. An adult is classified as being a person of voting age.

The suggestions that I have made will involve a major shift in how MPs are selected and how the country is governed. Every MP will be able to speak their mind in the House without being concerned that they are bucking the wishes of a party's hierarchy, and that should reflect how they think the voters who elected them feel on the matter being debated.

Looking somewhat further into the future it should, at least, be conceivable that the need for general elections will fall away. If the voters are not happy with "their" MP they can force him or her to resign, likewise MPs themselves can force a fellow MP to resign or a Minister to relinquish their position. A safety valve could be built into the system, by a suitable mechanism, whereby voters or MPs can insist that a referendum be held to decide whether voters as a whole want a general election.

Surely with an efficient "no party" system in place democracy must be better served. I have long thought that one of the highest honours that a person may aspire to is to be elected, on personal merit, as a Member of Parliament in the UK. Voters and would-be MPs have it in their power to bring meaning and a golden glitter back to such an accolade.

My next blog is titled "World Financial Armageddon". F W Gilling 21/07/2009