The respect for Parliament is at its nadir and has not improved since the expenses scandal of 5 years ago. The demise of trust in our MPs means that they are now bracketed with journalists, bankers, estate agents and power company executives at the bottom of "who would you trust" charts. Its about time we had a serious debate about how Parliament works and how MPs are elected. The Party system has probably served its time and allowing opaque party apparatchiks to mediate who does what seems a very analogue way of working.
The post on the website BBC Paxman, Brand and Parliament is based on several interviews over the past week including the explosive Russell Brand diatribe with Jeremy Paxman. There was a good reflective debate between the three of the more thoughtful MPs on the radio which is captured in the link.
As Sir Menzies Cambpell says, there is not a lot to choose between the policies of the parties any longer and the age of deference is dead. Margaret Hodge makes the vital point that it is acting locally that generates interest and support from the electorate. It is increasingly evident that the values of the MP should be more important than the political parties. They seem to operate through a public school discipline system that was exemplified in Lindsay Anderson's film, If. MPs are controlled through the whips office which punishes independent thinking and determines promotions through a form of fagging.
As an alternative to this charade I have been impressed in the present parliament by the values of Caroline Lucas, the Green MP. It is not that the Green's have many policies but nor do they have much baggage. She seems to have an openness and commitment to long term progress that is notably absent from most front bench spokespersons for the main parties. Is it not time to elect MPs who should represent a locality through asking them to set out their values, priorities and promises to the constituency instead of stating which gang they belong to? The tendency to create multi member constituencies as in European elections, the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Local Government has distanced elected members from their constituents and made them even more in hock to party autocrats. It has been an anti democratic shift and it is surprising that there has been no substantial analysis of whether it has been at the root of falling turn outs at elections.
There should be no need for proportional representation, which is another mechanism to protect the big parties, if candidates were not marketed as political brands. Instead you would vote for someone who best reflects your views. A government would be formed around the common issues that have been identified by the electorate not some whimsical nonsense that Michael Gove or Eric Pickles have dreamt up.
The post on the website BBC Paxman, Brand and Parliament is based on several interviews over the past week including the explosive Russell Brand diatribe with Jeremy Paxman. There was a good reflective debate between the three of the more thoughtful MPs on the radio which is captured in the link.
As Sir Menzies Cambpell says, there is not a lot to choose between the policies of the parties any longer and the age of deference is dead. Margaret Hodge makes the vital point that it is acting locally that generates interest and support from the electorate. It is increasingly evident that the values of the MP should be more important than the political parties. They seem to operate through a public school discipline system that was exemplified in Lindsay Anderson's film, If. MPs are controlled through the whips office which punishes independent thinking and determines promotions through a form of fagging.
As an alternative to this charade I have been impressed in the present parliament by the values of Caroline Lucas, the Green MP. It is not that the Green's have many policies but nor do they have much baggage. She seems to have an openness and commitment to long term progress that is notably absent from most front bench spokespersons for the main parties. Is it not time to elect MPs who should represent a locality through asking them to set out their values, priorities and promises to the constituency instead of stating which gang they belong to? The tendency to create multi member constituencies as in European elections, the Scottish Parliament and Scottish Local Government has distanced elected members from their constituents and made them even more in hock to party autocrats. It has been an anti democratic shift and it is surprising that there has been no substantial analysis of whether it has been at the root of falling turn outs at elections.
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| Caroline Lucas, a digital age MP |
There should be no need for proportional representation, which is another mechanism to protect the big parties, if candidates were not marketed as political brands. Instead you would vote for someone who best reflects your views. A government would be formed around the common issues that have been identified by the electorate not some whimsical nonsense that Michael Gove or Eric Pickles have dreamt up.
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