MP Expenses: Time for real change
The Petition - call to party leaders to pass a new recall law
Dear Gordon Brown, David Cameron, Nick Clegg, Elfyn Llwyd and Angus Robertson
The latest scandal on MP expenses has appalled us. Yet even if MPs have clearly broken rules in ways that would see them sacked in any other job, there is nothing we can do to remove them until the next election.
As voters we no longer accept that politicians can sort this mess out on their own - MPs will only regain our trust when we know they truly answer to us.
We need new ways to hold MPs to account, and these must include a new Recall Law. If enough local voters feel their MP has let them down, they should be able to trigger a fresh vote to test whether the MP still has local support.
We therefore call on you to co-operate to pass a new recall law. We call on you to do this urgently.
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Political parties may be falling over themselves to “get tough” with the worst MP expenses offenders, but can we rely on politicians to clean up this mess on their own? At the moment we're stuck with disgraced MPs until the next election, no matter what they have done. We need MPs to answer to us, and that means a new “recall law” to give local people the power to call a fresh vote and sack disgraced MPs. Right now party leaders are debating how far they need to go to regain our trust, and if we act together quickly we can influence them and get this new law passed.
If enough of us take action together, we'll show parliament that real change is needed. The idea for a recall law has been gaining momentum, with major newspapers and even some MPs weighing in recent weeks.
How many other jobs do you know where once you’ve been hired the people who hired you can’t sack you for five years, no matter what you’ve done?. Let's seize this opportunity to make MPs more accountable to us, for good.
