January 7, 2010
By
Alison Loat
The reputation of MPs took a real beating in the UK last year due to some, shall we say,
mishandling of expenses. Already, 120 MPs (of 646) have announced their intention to step down. The UK election, required this year, hasn't yet been called but is widely expected to produce a change in government.
At this rate, the UK may be in a situation very similar to that in Canada after our
1993 election, when half of Canadians switched their votes. As a result, two-third of the MPs were rookies, sitting in Parliament for the first time.
Courtesy of
this British commentator, I found
this podcast that explores life for MPs, post-politics. It also discusses the flurry of reform proposals designed, in light of the corrosive impact of the expenses scandal, to rebuild the public's perception of MPs.
There are two things at the heart of the proposals. The first is determining the appropriate powers for backbench MPs, a
debate we've had in Canada too. The second is the sorting out the right balance between the responsibility to make new laws and to scrutinize the making of laws. In a comment that I'd bet rings true to many here in Canada, one commentator asks, "Is the House of Commons a working institution or is it in the entertainment business? Far too many bills are not scrutinized at all, and the government tries to manipulate debate so controversial aspects are not discussed."
And how shall the departing MPs fare? "There's nothing deader than a dead MP," one said, whose Parliamentary pass was disabled the day after the election, before he'd even cleaned out his desk. You must "rebuild your entire life," said another - not an easy task when the economy is in the toilet. Feelings of disorientation and depression are not uncommon, and particularly when defeats are unexpected, can last for several years. We've heard bits of this in
our interviews too.
MPs aren't often high on the public's sympathy list, but parts of the podcast remind us that MPs aren't all that different from the rest of us who lose their jobs from time to time, except we don't lose them in public.
LABELS:
UK, Iain Dale, BBC
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