Recall of MPs

Tuesday 13th December 2011 Written Statements

[The Parliamentary Secretary, Cabinet Office (Mr Mark Harper)]

Today the Government have published draft legislation and a White Paper setting out proposals to introduce a power of recall, allowing voters to force a by-election where an MP is found to have engaged in serious wrongdoing and having had a petition calling for a by-election signed by 10% of his or her constituents, as set out in the coalition programme for Government.

These proposals form a key part of our efforts aimed at rebuilding trust in politics, ensuring that politicians are properly accountable to the people they represent.

Currently a Member could commit serious wrongdoing but will only be disqualified if convicted by the courts and sentenced to more than 12 months in prison. Otherwise such a Member may not have to account to their constituents until the next general election.

Key to any recall mechanism is the trigger for a recall petition. Members must not be left vulnerable to attack from those who simply disagree with them or think that they should have voted a different way on a particular measure. Recall should be used to hold to account Members who have not maintained the high standards of behaviour that are rightly expected of elected representatives. Recall should not be used as a way of re-running elections.

The draft Bill provides that a Member should face a recall petition if one of two conditions are met. The first would fill the existing gap in the disqualification regime by providing that where a Member receives a custodial sentence of up to 12 months they will automatically face a recall petition. The second is the House of Commons passing a resolution stating that a Member should face a recall petition. This is designed to supplement the House’s existing disciplinary powers, and ensure that MPs who have committed serious wrongdoing which has not resulted in a prison sentence may be recalled, if the wrongdoing is considered to be sufficiently serious. The draft Bill deliberately does not set out the internal procedures of the House of Commons which would lead to such a resolution; such matters fall within the exclusive cognisance of the House. We would hope, however, that the House would put into place procedures based around those which it already has to deal with reports from the Commissioner for Parliamentary Standards.

The draft Bill proposes that the recall petition should be open for signature for eight weeks and will be administered by the local returning officer. The petition may be signed by anyone on the parliamentary electoral register for the relevant constituency, provided that they made their application for registration before the recall petition procedure was started. If, at the end of that period, more than 10% of those on the electoral register have signed the petition, then the Member’s seat will be vacated and a by-election will be held. The former Member will be free to stand in the by-election.

There is no precedent for a recall mechanism in the United Kingdom. In bringing forward this draft Bill the Government hope to stimulate a debate on what would be the best model for a recall mechanism.

We are publishing this White Paper and draft Bill for pre-legislative scrutiny, and I am inviting the Political and Constitutional Reform Committee to scrutinise the draft Bill. We will consider the results of this process with great care.