"Recall mechanism" for MPs - Letter to The Guardian
11th March 2008
I welcome Nick Clegg's support for the proposal that voters should be allowed to collect petitions in their constituency if an MP is expelled or suspended from the Commons (Clegg calls for US-style recall system for discredited MPs, March 6). But your report did not mention that this proposal was advocated a week earlier by 27 members of the 2005 intake of Conservative MPs. A "recall mechanism" may well help MPs be more accountable to constituents. Having said that, ignoring manifesto pledges - as Mr Clegg has done over the referendum for the EU reform treaty - does nothing to improve the way the public view MPs.
David Gauke MP
Con, South West Hertfordshire
