eurealist.co.uk

On my desk I have a letter form my own MP who tells me the Conservative party believes that elected representatives should not give up the powers they were elected to wield without asking the people who first elected them. In the modern world, where people want power and control over their lives to deny them a referendum is a denial of democracy. In our Parliamentary democracy it is right that Parliament decides on how we are governed on issues such as heath care, education and policing.
He also tells me that the Conservatives hopes on the Referendum treaty are placed on the House of Lords rejecting it and that the LibDems will be pivotal, well they have certainly been that, by playing about Nick Clegg has ensured that the Treaty will pass unhindered through both houses.
Ignoring for the moment the point that my MP feels our Parliament should only decide on how we are governed on issues such as heath care, education and policing. Now the pressure is back on the Conservatives to explain exactly what they mean by not allowing the situation with regard to the Lisbon Treaty to stand.

In the mean time it is apparent that they are worrying about MPs loosing their jobs and are concerned by Nick Cleggs proposals to cut the number of MPs to 500.

Time to cut the House of Commons to 500?

Do readers of Centre Right think we need as many as 650 MPs? Is the quality of legislation made better by such a large number of lawmakers? In the United States they seem to get by just fine with just 435 members in the House of Representatives. Could fewer MPs offer a better deal to the voters and enable MPs to be paid at a level that is likely to see less difficulties with expenses? Should MPs sitting for Wales, England, Scotland and Northern Ireland automatically become devolved lawmakers, thereby cutting the number of politicians the public are expected to pay for?

If we do go down such a route one thing seems especially important to me. Equality of voters. Each seat should have a set level - e.g. 85,000 voters. No ifs, no buts. The variance of electorate s around the country is unacceptable and distorts election outcomes. It also results in an unfair democratic deficit for voters in more heavily populated constituencies. I would be really interested to know what Centre Right readers think.

I would contend that this is an unimportant side issue, it matters little how many MPs there are when they have outsourced most of their work load. When they have accepted the principal that EU law is superior to British law and that our Parliament can be bound by the European Court of Justice.
So never mind cutting the wastrels down to 500 how about 100, why do we need such a big expensive local administration when it is no longer the government of this country and no longer oversees or controls the executive any other organisation that no longer did the job it was paid to do would be closed down, I do not see any reason why Members of the Westminster parliament should be treated any differently than any other organisation which has had its day and no longer serves its purpose.

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