A political solution...

A friend of mine had a link on his blog yesterday advocating that we should have a “read the bills act” in this country (see http://b2fxxx.blogspot.com/2005/05/read-bills-act.html for the full posting).

For once something political I wholeheartedly support!

Did you know that since coming to power Heir Blair’s government have passed literally hundreds of pieces of legislation, creating thousands of new criminal offences, most of which are adequately covered by existing legislation? And is our country any safer as a result? (answers on the back of a fiver please).

The problem is most of these new pieces of legislation are passed by our MP’s simply voting according to the whim of the party. Most don’t attend the debate but simply come into the house when summonsed, stand with their mates and then file out again after!

In fact it has now gotten so bad that I can’t watch the BBC parliament channel without winding myself up, as it is ALWAYS the same story. There is a debate in the house attended by a handful of MPs, the majority of which speak out against the impending bill. The division Bell sounds and in they all trot, stand where they are told by the party whip and then file out again while the next part of the bill is debated!

It would be a nice idea to think that our MPs were actually voting on a subject they understand but alas no. And the excuse for this is simply the workload it imposes on them…

So here are a couple of alternative solutions to the problem…

Option 1… We debate legislation properly and have a free and democratic vote for EVERY piece of new legislation. In order to do this we ensure that every MP voting actually understands the issue they are voting on (by imposing a “read the bills act”). If workload is an issue here then why not simply debate less bills?

Alternatively option 2... we accept that the current system is the best we can possibly achieve given the quantity of legislation that is really required and we streamline the whole system. As most MPs simply vote along party lines, why not give each party a percentage vote based on their performance at the general election (killing two birds with one stone). The party can then use the vote as it sees fit, reducing the number of sitting MPs from around 640 to maybe 75. I estimate this would also save the country around £30 million at a stroke to boot.

Less MPs and a cash saving, now there’s a really good idea :o)