Power of recall of MPs ditched by coalition

The coalition is to drop plans to give voters the ability to dismiss MPs for "serious wrongdoing".

The idea of a "power of recall", where 10% of an MP's electorate could sign a petition calling for a by-election, was introduced after the expenses scandal.

It was included in the Conservatives' 2010 manifesto and their Coalition Agreement with the Liberal Democrats.

The coalition partners have blamed each other amid disagreements over the detail of how recall would work.

This was a great idea; giving the electorate the chance to kick out an MP if they weren’t doing the job, and yet after almost four years the government have now decided oh no we’re not going to do that, all because they couldn’t agree.

The whole point of government is they’re supposed to be working in the interests of the public not themselves, so what if you can’t agree on a few technicalities reach a compromise, granted that usually results in no one getting what they want, but at least this power of recall could have been put into practice.

But no they couldn’t agree so an idea that I’m sure would have got the backing of the majority of people bites the dust and no doubt in a few days another idea that nobody supports will be put in place.

What’s even more frustrating about this is that the power of recall, aside from the fact it would be popular, is that it would have been quite easy to introduce, but one of the coalition partners might have lost face so it had to be scrapped.