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Should UK Voters Have the Right to Recall an Unwanted MP?
Jim Riley
22nd October 2013
Would the introduction of a recall system for UK MPs provide an incentive for MPs to keep on their toes and represent their constituents better?
The expenses scandal led to suggestions the public should have the power to remove MPs between elections where constituents felt they were no longer up to the job,
The coalition proposed a system where an MP could be referred to the Parliamentary Standards Committee which would decide their fate.
But Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith said that does not go far enough, and made the case for a different kind of "recall".
He said constituents are not able to punish their current MP, whatever their behaviour, as "there is nothing literally their voters can do about it until the next general election."