We Must Now Have a General Election

And there we have it - the Speaker has said he will step down and it is not before time. His statement to the house didn't cut any mustard yesterday and instead of saying that he was prepared to stand down at the next general election which may have diffused the situation some what, he decided to say nothing. The nano-second after sitting down he came under a barrage of pressure from MP's urging him to go. It was an amazing lack of judgement on his part, which inevitably lead to his resignation today. He will stand down on the 21st June - in order for a new Speaker to be elected on the 22nd June.

I don't believe the argument that he is being treated as a scapegoat for the expenses scandal - I believe that he had to go not just because of the way he spoke to Kate Hoey in the House but so we can now have real reform - in which the legislature is more powerful and accountable to the people.

Undoubtedly the main issue on the doorstep is the expenses scandal I was out talking to people in my Ward yesterday - and I was out in Roman Way again this morning. People are very angry and they have the right to be so. Weather some of the more unjustifiable MP's expenses were cleared by the fees office or not - it should be the responsibility of every MP to justify what they have claimed - their claims should be in the spirit of the rules as well as the letter of the rules. Many MP's claims, not a majority, but many, were obviously not in the spirit of the rules. That is why we need a general election and we need a general election now. MP's would then have to justify their expense claims to their local parties - who may choose to deselect them if they felt it was appropriate but more importantly the people would have the chance to throw out their MP at the Ballot Box if they felt their expenses weren't justifiable.

The House of Commons has become a very discredited place - and only through a General election can we focus politics back on to the real issues of the day and that being the economy and the financial situation.

Lets have a General Election now - sign for change at http://www.conservatives.com/