Meet my reasonable needs to do the job of MP - no more, no less

Spoke at a very interesting meeting organised by the Public and Commercial Services Union (PCS) last night in Whitehall. I'm grateful to the meeting organisers and to all those who attended and asked a wide range of searching questions. I'm already on record as supporting PCS campaigning to protect and promote public services, jobs, equality, those on low pay and unfair conditions of employment, and to fight fascism (see here and here). What I said went down well I think. There was good agreement in many respects between myself and TUSC candidate Rae Lynch (http://www.tusc.org.uk/) - not that this post constitutes a total endorsement of course!!

One of the most striking questions was on MPs pay and expenses. It was very powerfully put and reminded me of the commitment given now and whilst he was a Labour MP by socialist Dave Nellist to take 'only the wage of a skilled factory worker (40% of what he could have earned), less than half that which other MPs took for themselves, the rest he donated back to the Labour movement and to charities'. It also reminded me of the commitment I made on the issue of MPs pay and expenses all the way back in July 2008 (before the MPs expenses scandal) here (relevant extract below*). I am personally committed to making no net financial gain in any way, shape or form from being an MP and have always believed that only my needs to do the job of MP and should be met, no more and no less. I also believe very strongly in the merits of MPs living on income similar to that of people in general.

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*Extract from July 2008 post: I recently posted about the work of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation who looked at what various categories of people need in order to live at an acceptable standard and participate in UK society. I propose that this sort of method should be applied to all MPs, including members of the Government - get a fair, independent body to examine what is needed for MPs to do their jobs well and also live decent, reasonably rounded lives and pay them and/or provide them with appropriate facilities as required.If I was ever elected as an MP (I wish!!) I would certainly work on this basis, whether or not this kind of system was the official one. Are any local MPs willing to have an independent body go over what their actual needs are?

The politics of participation: why get involved?

Politicians have messed up the political system and are struggling to put things right. They have mismanaged the economic system and have not taken action to build stability. Just look at the news on MPs charged with expenses fraud today. But we do need politics and politicians - and we put politicians into power. It may not seem like it a lot of the time but politics can and does work. It has many genuine people involved in it, paid and unpaid, at all levels and across parties. They are making politics work in Northern Ireland, as todays news shows, despite a very troubled history. Political systems suffer when people dont participate much however.

Everyone knows being Green has environmental protection as a core value. What is a little less well known is the high emphasis Greens put on grassroots democracy and participation. Participation at its best is all about: open exchange of ideas; mutual understanding; effective, timely information; promoting trust; highlighting decision-making processes; dealing with complex, possibly controversial issues; unique insights; serving each other. It ideally develops a common view, a sense of purpose – and allows communities to take control and set agendas. This is the way to learn to live better lives.

Inputs and involvement from people in their neighbourhood, community and society is really important for policymaking that is effective and responsive. Participation provides vital feedback on the performance of institutions, decision-making, and decision makers, including MPs and Councillors – less of it means they may well perform poorly. People have first-hand knowledge that contributes to understanding of what works and what needs improvement. If we want to help people out locally, change our workplaces, change our country, shape local national or global policy, leave our mark, we have to be active, engaged and take opportunities to be involved.

Getting involved has a positive influence on young lives, helps older individuals remain independent in their own homes, cleans up the environment, offers professional skills to local non-profit groups, and lends talents and experience to strengthening our communities. You could: join a political party or a pressure group; get involved in health and care services; become a parish town, district, borough, or city councillor – or seek election at national or EU level; become magistrate; take part in or start up a Neighbourhood Watch; participate in or start up a Residents' Association; get elected as a school governor; take on the role of a special constable…

There are many opportunities – just take a look on the web, through your local paper or in your local library. Talk to your neighbours or local shopkeeper. Community roles are dependent on the ongoing involvement and enthusiasm of committed people of all sorts. They are crucial to achieving and maintaining safe, prosperous and sustainable communities that can be enjoyed by all. Think about some key questions. What are your interests? What are your skills? Do you have particular needs? Do you have a method of transportation? How many hours a week do you have ? Why exactly do you want to be involved? Your answers will help you focus on the most appropriate avenues.

Being involved: feels good; strengthens your community; can strengthen your family when you do things together; it builds a sense of responsibility. It boosts the case for authorities to improve all methods of participation – then the extent to which one person can make a difference is improved. People of different backgrounds, abilities, ethnicities, ages, and education and income levels are brought together. Diverse individuals can be united by common values. Job skills can be gained - learning to work as a team member, taking on leadership roles, setting project goals - and future careers built.

MPs' expenses – live | Politics | guardian.co.uk

MPs' expenses – live Politics guardian.co.uk

'Redacted Dawn' Primarolo's week

Its not been a good week for Bristol South MP and new Children's Minister Dawn Primarolo. The Bristol Evening Post reported on Wednesday that she is to lose her funding from Unison because the trade union are protesting against the privatisation of public services and only want to work with MPs who 'stand up for the union's values' ('MP will no longer be 'bankrolled'', Bristol Evening Post, 17 June 2009).

On Thursday Dawn was again under pressure about her expenses when the Daily Telegraph reported that 'Dawn Primarolo claimed on second home in Bristol. In 2004, switched to London flat and claimed mortgage interest payments'.

And of course House of Commons officials did Dawn and her fellow MPs no favours at all by blanking out huge amounts of information on expenses receipts they finally published - making it impossible to trace the presence or absence of abuse/wrongdoing. The Bristol Evening Post wont make the coming weeks that easy for local MPs either as they have said 'There are literally thousands of receipts and documents which we will plough through to report on each MP.'

*

Scrutiny of everything MPs do is great for democracy, whether by the media, unions or whoever. My concern about some of the proposals emanating from Gordon Brown is that they consist of more layers of bureaucracy which over time might turn out to be little better than than current House of Commons authorities. I'd like scrutiny and accountability to be much more direct to voters.

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Asides:

Unison has done some very good green work, see http://www.unison.org.uk/green/ .

Further information on the work of the Green Party Trade Union Group,

http://www.gptu.net/pssess4X/3c/hpage.shtml

Yes to cleaning up politics - but lets get deep reform of the political system too!

Radio 4 – 21 May 2009, 8:40am, transcript of interview about cleaning up politics and deep reform of the political system.

(JN – interviewer James Naughtie)
(CL - Caroline Lucas, Green Party leader, MEP for the South East and Parliamentary Candidate in Brighton)

JN – "You, of course are not in the House of Commons."

CL – "Not yet"

JN – "Let’s not go there at the moment. Looking at it, from the
outside, do you think we going to get deeper reform than simply
cleaning up expenses and allowances?"

CL – "I certainly hope we do. I do believe that there really is a once
in a generation opportunity here … that there is so much anger, not
just about the expenses issue, but about the way that’s symbolic of a
Parliamentary system that is pretty rotten. If you look at how
unrepresentative the people are who supposedly represent us in
Westminster, the very few numbers of women, the very few numbers of
ethnic minorities, if you look at the way that there are so many safe
seats where people just don’t think it’s worth voting anymore. There’s
an interesting correlation between those in those very safe seats, and
those who are most likely to be abusing the system. Basically, they
have felt very complacent. We need to shake that up."

JN – "Then you’re making an argument for electoral reform."

CL – "Absolutely. We need to have a much fairer voting system, some
sort of system of proportional representation, where the people in
Westminster will look more like the people that actually elect them,
not just men in grey suits, doing things behind closed doors, that
people don’t understand, and when they do understand, they feel very
very angry.

JN – "We’ve been here before. The argument about PR has been going on
for, a very long time, let’s say, 25 years in the public context.
There has never been sufficient weight of opinion in the House of
Commons really to get it on the formal agenda. What makes you think it
will happen now?"

CL – "Because we are in completely unprecedented times. You spent the
last 24 hours talking about how amazing it is that the Speaker has
been forced out. Never done before in 300 years. We really do have an
enormous opportunity here. There’s that lovely phrase from the chief
of staff of the White House, "Don’t waste a crisis." This is a very
big crisis, but don’t waste it. We don’t need to just deal with the
expenses system, awful though that is. We really need a root and
branch transformation of our Parliament, so people can feel proud
about it again, so that public life is something honourable again – it
certainly isn’t today - so the whole parliamentary system is alive
again. Parliament shouldn’t just be something that happens behind
closed doors in Westminister. Politics needs to be much more vibrant,
much more alive. This is a real opportunity to do that.

Enable the recall of any MP or Councillor - make them accountable between elections!!

The MPs expenses controversy shows that we need some way of holding our elected representatives to account between elections. I'd like to draw your attention to the longstanding Green Party policy of enabling elected representatives on all bodies to be recalled if enough of their constituents want it. Here's a copy of the policy wording from the Manifesto for a Sustainable Society:

'Government at all levels should be accountable to electors between elections and accordingly necessary legislative steps will be taken to provide for a prescribed percentage of any representative's electors to be able to petition for the recall of any elected person, and rules will be made for the conduct of such recall petitions.'

More Green policies on Public Adminsitration and Government here.

MPs expenses and Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life

Its all over the news that MPs are writing cheques to give back money they now think they should not have claimed on expenses etc. They certainly should pay back money. We'll still be left with the many MPs who showed themselves incapable of telling right from wrong when putting in expenses claims though. Yes the pay and expenses system needs to be changed (MPs should not be setting their own pay and expenses) but the lets also get rid of the MPs (and MEPs) devoid of scruples, oblivious to or contemptuous of what is right or honorable.

The 'Nolan Committee on Standards in Public Life was set up in 1994 as a result of public concern about the financial probity of holders of public office. It was concerned with standards in public life generally and particularly where public funds were involved.' (details here). Many MPs have very clearly not stood by Nolan's Seven Principles of Public Life:

Selflessness

Holders of public office should take decisions solely in terms of the public interest. They should not do so in order to gain financial or other material benefits for themselves, their family, or their friends.

Integrity

Holders of public office should not place themselves under any financial or other obligation to outside individuals or organisations that might influence them in the performance of their official duties.

Objectivity

In carrying out public business, including making public appointments, awarding contracts, or recommending individuals for rewards and benefits, holders of public office should make choices on merit.

Accountability

Holders of public office are accountable for their decisions and actions to the public and must submit themselves to whatever scrutiny is appropriate to their office.

Openness

Holders of public office should be as open as possible about all the decisions and actions that they take. They should give reasons for their decisions and restrict information only when the wider public interest clearly demands.

Honesty

Holders of public office have a duty to declare any private interests relating to their public duties and to take steps to resolve any conflicts arising in a way that protects the public interest.

Leadership

Holders of public office should promote and support these principles by leadership and example.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2009/may/12/mps-pay-back-expenses

It wont win me votes but...I dont like Christmas!!

This may not win me many votes if/when I stand in an election again but I have to admit that I dont like Christmas !! Perhaps I have just a touch of Oliver Cromwell in me.

For a start it seems to begin earlier every year, with adverts galore and reminders of how many days we all have left to overspend in the shops! Any 'specialness' in the brief period that even I might find is immediately devalued.

It does not help of course that not only am I not a Christian but being a very firm sceptic I dont have any substantial belief that there is any kind of god(s) at all, including pagan ones, (the existence of he/she/it is extremely unlikely). Anyhow, its clear that a case can be made that much about the way we currently celebrate Christmas is nothing whatsoever to do with Christianity !!

Food and alcohol consumption go through the roof. Energy useage for lighting likewise. Excessive spending on goods of many sorts from all over the world too. Far from being happier people's behaviour often deteriorates. Christmas just does not seem to be about loving and giving but is all about more, more, more.