Wycombe Liberal Democrats

I read with great interest Paul Goodman’s explanation of why he decided to stand down at the next General Election. The news is all the more surprising since he would have expected to be the bookmakers’ favourite to retain Wycombe at the next election.

Let me say from the off that I have no desire to pick though the minutiae of Paul’s expense claims. It is quite clear that there is nothing to be gained arguing about whether individual items were fair claims or not (and let’s face it, far worse were claimed by other MPs). But I do disagree with Paul’s claim that the Member for Wycombe needs a second home at all. Far better that Wycombe’s next MP should buy a season ticket and commute into London as most of his or her constituents do. The rail link from High Wycombe to London is excellent – and having your main home in the Constituency well help you to have more in common with those who you seek to represent.

Paul says that the House of Commons is sick, and in some ways I agree with him. It is right that our representatives should be able to draw on real life experiences. These may have been gained in business or in the workplace. But equally valid must surely be the experiences of others in our community. Would he discount, for example, the experience of parenthood, redundancy or those discriminated against because of disability? Paul rails against career politicians – but I don’t want a Parliament stuffed full of businessmen either. I want a Parliament representative of Britain today – and that means a mixed bag of people from all walks of life, with all kinds of life experiences.

That said, I don’t think that you can do justice to the role of MP unless you devote yourself to it full time. This brings us to the inevitable conclusion that you must pay MPs a realistic salary, and yes, we must pay them reasonable expenses. Not for moat cleaning and duck islands, mind you. Reasonable expenses like travel costs and living expenses for those MPs whose constituencies are far away from Westminster.

To find out how we got into this mess, you have to look way back to the days of the Thatcher administration. An independent review of MP’s pay at the time revealed that our representatives were actually underpaid. Afraid to face the public with this, a fudge was settled upon whereby MPs would continue to be underpaid, but instead be able to claim generous expenses. The expense scheme that MPs have been using would never have been tolerated in the private sector. Some MPs have taken advantage of the woolliness of the system and have been caught out.

There is an enigma in what Paul wrote in the Bucks Free Press when announcing his decision to stand down. He says that he admires and respects his leader, David Cameron. Yet he also says he expects Parliament to get worse, not better. Since most commentators expect Labour to lose the next election, does Paul not expect his party to make things better?

Paul alludes to the fact that the likely next MP from Wycombe will be his successor selected by his party. Let’s just think about this for a moment. The next MP for Wycombe will not be chosen by you! I Paul is right, he or she will be chosen by a small number of local Conservatives, since whoever they select is in pole position in what is considered a safe Conservative seat. The majority of Britain’s Parliamentary seats rarely change hands. The first past the post system we cling too, rejected as unfair by most of our neighbours, produces rotten boroughs. It is no coincidence that some of the most profligate MPs hit by the recent scandals also live in some of the safest seats. In many cases, they must have thought they had a job for life. Our present voting system does not make MPs equally accountable to the electorate, rather, those MPs in swing seats are the only ones with anything to fear.

The cure for the sickness is actually remarkably simple:
1. Fair pay for MPs with only genuine expenses claimable (as in the private sector).
2. Complete transparency as to how much each MP claims and for what.
3. Reform of the electoral system to ensure every MP is accountable to his or her constituents. No safe seats will keep them all on their toes!

To be elected to serve in any public role is an enormous privilege. Let’s make our democracy better and more accountable, so that our representatives can get on with sorting out the mess that our great nation has got into!

Oh, and if the next Tory candidate in Wycombe thinks he or she is in or an easy ride – they will be mistaken! The Labour Party may have pressed the self-destruct button, but the Liberal Democrats are fit and ready for the coming campaign.

Cllr Steve Guy is the official Liberal Democrat candidate for Wycombe at the next General Election.

Liberal Democrats have been calling for the reform of our democracy for decades. Now as a result of the expenses scandal the public is rightly demanding reform. So far Gordon Brown and David Cameron have suggested tinkering around the edges, pretending to offer real reform when in reality they are defending the status quo. Only the Liberal Democrats have the courage to take on the establishment.

Nick Clegg writing in the Guradian says “Finally the dam has broken, and everyone is talking about changing Britain’s political system. For decades reformers have been thwarted by Westminster inertia. But the MPs’ expenses scandal has overturned old certainties and made change possible.

This moment must be seized by all who want a different kind of politics. Warm words, rhetoric and consideration are not enough; indeed, they are a guarantee that little will happen. So let us bar the gates of Westminster and stop MPs leaving for their summer holidays until this crisis has been sorted out, and every nook and cranny of our political system has been reformed.”

“Today I’m setting out a plan of action to get all the changes we need delivered in just 100 days – making it possible for MPs to be sacked by constituents, abolishing the House of Lords, getting corrupt money out of politics and changing the electoral system to give everyone a voice. People will say it isn’t possible – parliament can’t act that quickly. I say the innate conservatism that marks out our political establishment is part of the problem. Let’s stop all this self-congratulatory hype about the mother of parliaments and get on with improving it.”

Read the full Guardian article at

 http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/may/27/nick-clegg-a-new-politics

Read the full proposals at http://www.takebackpower.org/

Join the campaign to save our Democracy.

Parliament must move quickly to reform the disgraced expenses arrangements or voters will never forgive MPs

This is now about salvaging public trust of the political class

It already feels like both a cliché and an understatement to say that this has been a bad week for politics. The barrage of revelations about MPs’ expenses has caused immense damage to the standing of all MPs, and Parliament itself. For many people all of the worst stereotypes of a sleazy, self-interested political class will have been confirmed.

Mistakes have been made on all sides, as have apologies, and money has rightly been paid back. But we absolutely cannot afford to dither and delay on a wholesale overhaul of the rules. If we want to salvage people’s trust we cannot allow these scandals to fester. With people across the country struggling under the weight of this recession we were already facing growing scepticism towards mainstream politicians. Without decisive reform on expenses that will become more profound and widespread. Our politics is on the edge of a cliff.

That’s why I approached Gordon Brown and David Cameron with proposals to clean up expenses last month. Regrettably they wouldn’t sign up to them then, but the media furore has now forced the other parties to open their eyes to this crisis, and a variety of different proposals are on the table.

That said, none of their ideas address the biggest loophole in the system. MPs are making hundreds of thousands of pounds by playing the property market with taxpayers’ money. We need to get MPs out of the property game altogether by adopting the system they use in Scotland, where only rent can be charged to the taxpayer, not mortgage costs. And in the meantime any MP who sells their second home should return any profit to the taxpayer.

It’s one of the major changes I’m asking Sir Christopher Kelly to recommend in his independent review. His inquiry is now more important than ever, and I’ve gone to the other party leaders again to urge them to declare publicly that they’ll accept his recommendations in full. In normal times I would be very reluctant to suggest we adopt proposals we haven’t yet seen. But these are not normal times. Only by binding our hands in this way – removing the ability for Parliament to quibble over the detail of Sir Christopher’s recommendations – will we have a chance of convincing people that we are serious about serving them, rather than our own interests.

That agreement should be cemented by an immediate parliamentary motion voted on without delay. This is no time to hesitate on doing the right thing. People will never forgive us if we do.

You will not hear us say that often! Our congratulations to Peter Taylor, players, staff and supporters of Wycombe Wanderers FC. A credit to our Town, Well Done.

Tense awaiting confirmation!

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Lib Dem motion wins Commons vote

In a historic defeat for Gordon Brown, a Lib Dem motion condemning the government’s treatment of Ghurkas was passed by 267 votes to 246.

The vote is the culmination of a long campaign by the Liberal Democrats and Gurkha pressure groups, which has seen the Prime Minister challenged repeatedly on the issue by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, and thousands of Gurkhas handing their medals to Mr Clegg to pass to Gordon Brown in protest at their treatment.

In a statement, Nick Clegg (Liberal Democrat Leader) said:

This is an historic victory for the Gurkhas who have served our country so bravely.

This Government has now lost its moral authority. From the first moment I challenged Gordon Brown on this over a year ago, he didn’t understand that there was a simple moral principle at stake.

People who are willing to die for our country, should be allowed to live in our country.

The Government must listen to Parliament and scrap these shameful rules immediately and grant justice without conditions to all retired Gurkhas.