Do Kingswood people back Chris Skidmore's stance on MPs who defect to another political party?

By BeckyFeather | Friday, November 18, 2011, 20:47

Kingswood's Conservative MP Chris Skidmore will introduce a Ten-Minute Rule Bill in the House of Commons next Wednesday which would force any Member of Parliament who wanted to change political party to resign and fight a by-election.

Kingswood MP Chris Skidmore

Mr Skidmore said: "It has been long-standing custom and practice that MPs are elected as individual representatives to serve a full term, and that their mandate is an individual one.

"However, it cannot be denied that for the most part, voters cast their ballots with party identity firmly in mind, above and beyond the individual qualities of any given candidate.

"Which is why, on November 23, I will be introducing a Ten-Minute Rule Bill which would mandate that any Member of Parliament who decides to voluntarily change their political party during the course of a Parliament would be required to resign and fight a by-election.

"I want to tackle the spectacle of a mandate-less political defection, where an MP can freely join another party whilst simultaneously thumbing their nose at the people who elected them, when they stood on another party's manifesto.

"When Shaun Woodward defected to Labour in 1999, he was urged to resign his seat and stand for re-election as the Labour candidate. Unsurprisingly, Woodward considered discretion the better part of valour."

Mr Skidmore quoted Labour veteran Tony Benn who said at the time of Woodward's defection: "It is totally wrong for people to treat their constituents as just agents of their own will. If he's joined Labour fine and great, but he'd better prove that he's wanted in Parliament. I think that principle is one we've got to re-establish."

Mr Skidmore, writing on the Conservative Home website, adds: "At a time when trust in politics and the political process are at an all-time low, we have a responsibility to look at where our unwritten constitution can be updated, to better reflect what our constituents expect."

Do you share his sentiments?

Write a story

Ads by Google

Comments

By the same reasoning therefore, Mr Skidmore, MPs should put themselves up stand down and fight a by-elecition for every broken pledge. Which means in your case Frenchy Hospital. Yes, I do remember you citing in your litterature David Cameron promising "a bare-knuckled fight" to protect it. Well once elected, you all went limp-wristed.

By Feneon at 00:54 on 27/11/11
Report
Richard, everyone knows MP's are only interested in their own self, (99% are anyway) they couldn't give two hoots about the voting public, (just see how cameron and osborne are acting over policy right now). End of the day they want to stay in their £65k a year jobs for as long as possible. They get a little power and they change.

Not a big question at all regarding Tony Blair. He knew the Labour party had to change. There was no way the Michael Foot, Tony Benn and the Dennis Skinner's of the Labour party would never ever get back in so it had to change. Blair knew he had to win over some of the tory vote and he aimed at the voters who were fed up of 13 odd years of thatcher and major. cameron is doing something similar by saying, "the NHS is safe in the tories hands" routine which as everyone knows is a complete lie but the guy is trying to gain some Labour/lib dems voters.

By king1and at 01:10 on 21/11/11
Report
It's a fair policy because they were elected as the party ambassador for a particular area and if they had any doubts then they shouldn't be representing a party in the first place. To stand for a party is an honour and it should be about community and wanting to give something back and not about a persons own agenda.
The big question is did Tony Blair join the Labour Party because he saw this as the easy option to become a Tory Prime Minister...

However the other argument Mr Skidmore is how much loyalty should conservative MP's give to the party when they only became MP's to water down the EU's power over Britain and fight for a referendum on the EU, only to be heavily let down by Mr Cameron in recent weeks.

It's easy to have a go at MP's who are questioning their loyalty right now but when people are feeling down it's best to give them time to recover from the heavy blows.

By Richard34 at 21:58 on 18/11/11
Report