Chris Skidmore
Main Page: Chris Skidmore (Conservative - Kingswood)Department Debates - View all Chris Skidmore's debates with the Cabinet Office
(13 years, 5 months ago)
Commons Chamber2. What plans he has to introduce a power for electors in a constituency to recall their elected Member of Parliament.
5. What plans he has to introduce a power for electors in a constituency to recall their elected Member of Parliament.
7. When he plans to publish his proposals to allow electors in a constituency to recall their elected Member of Parliament.
My hon. Friend is exactly right: that is precisely the kind of detail that we need to get right in the Bill. In some cases it is clear: if someone is sentenced to prison for 12 months or more they are automatically disqualified already, under the present rules. There is certainly a case for removing that 12-month cut-off line. If someone is imprisoned for any period, it seems to me that there is a strong case for disqualifying them. The key problem is when wrongdoings do not lead to a prison sentence, and that is exactly why we would want to engage the House authorities, to provide a means by which they could be clearly proven.
In other countries that already have a right of recall, there is a significant annual cost in having departments to administer public petitions. Has the Minister considered making an impact assessment of the annual cost of introducing such a measure?
As my hon. Friend may know, we want the recall mechanism to be based on two simple steps: first, proof that wrongdoing has been committed, as I explained in answer to the previous question; and secondly, a petition by at least 10% of the electors to trigger a by-election in the constituency concerned. That is slightly different from some of the models to which my hon. Friend referred, in California and elsewhere, where there is a much more open-ended process.