MP allowances 2

Gordon Brown, in his attempt to catch up with David Cameron, stole the Speaker's thunder by announcing reforms in some detail at his press conference yesterday. Cameron, Clegg et al seem to have accepted the list produced.

By proposing the outside, independent control of MP allowances, Brown is thus attempting to show that he is tough. He may have the second objective of further muzzling Parliament and the press, and thus head off any further scandals. Bearing in mind how little power rank and file MPs have already, this must surely be a major disincentive for anyone contemplating standing for parliament. MPs are not quite political eunuchs, as we saw in the removal of Michael Martin, but rubber stamping Brussels laws, and being kept in the dark by quangos and executive, is hardly an inviting career.

The worst thing of all is that the regulating body will become in effect another quango, stuffed with appointees of a certain type and not accessible to the public. Deals will be done before and during office to bring the body under the influence of the executive, rather than parliament as a whole. The precedents are not good. Elizabeth Filkin courageously conducted herself as Commissioner for Standards, and was hounded out of office by the government. How far would we trust the external body to represent our wishes?

We already have an external regulator, which we have seen working on our TV screens. This is the mass of voters who expressed their anger so forcibly that something had to be done. Local political party organisations generally seem to be willing to re-adopt miscreant MPs, perhaps because they do not want to lose a familiar friend and then go through the whole business of selection again. The public will not be so willing to forgive.

We have something of a democratic deficit - a prime minister without mandate to rule, ruling through whips who dragoon MPs to follow his purpose, and quangos appointed as placemen.

Brown's proposal will further render the voters to ignorance and apathy. For several years, and entranced by the Blair charm, even the press gave the government an easy ride. There must be openness and accountability of MPs to their voters. The power of the executive and whips must be reduced, and even the power of local party machines. It has been suggested that we ought to have primary elections to select candidates, and the power to recall underperforming MPs. There are too many safe seats, and a dose of real competition would give power to the electorate. This is surely what democracy means!