Vocal Voices

Once the Brexit mess shakedown is completed parliament is going to have to look long and hard at how it operates.

Over the past two years May has brushed aside the old 'collegiate' style of being Prime Minister for a more 'Presidential' form of rule. It has become 'her way or no way', and she is not the only one over the past few decades, so this is not just about her.

Parliament has become little more than a talking shop and rubber stamping exercise, with senior Civil Servants taking on a more 'governing' role. The HoC is full of toothless committee after toothless committee offering recommendations that are never taken up unless the PM (manly) decides to accept them. It members behave in ways that would land the ordinary person in deep trouble, or worse, and it is almost impossible to remove them - see Bercow, Vaz and May to name a few in recent times. Cabinets have become made up of those who will toe the line rather than those who can do the job :Grayling, Green, IDS and McVey spring to mind. Far too many of them are then appointed to the HoL as a "Thank you" for services rendered.

If parliament will not change itself then maybe it is time for the people to revolt.

Workingman wrote: If parliament will not change itself then maybe it is time for the people to revolt.

About time too.

in jest a lot of the population is revolting hehe,.......... but seriously I am expecting lots of unrest and demands for change after march because both the main parties have shown themselves not fit fo purpose

Manxie xx

I have been reading comments pages from various outlets and the number of people now calling for MPs to be sacked is growing. Note: sacked not deselected. There is a lot of anger at the day-to-day behaviour of some MPs and their performance in office?

These calls have gone past the original issue of Brexit and the defectors from Labour and the Tories. They have now also evolved to challenge the meaning and standing of manifestos and how closely they are adhered to once an MP, or party, is elected.

If this movement gathers support it could see the end of manifestos promising the earth yet delivering nothing. Would that be such a bad thing?

Party political manifestoes are not plans for action, they are merely devices to communicate a halcyon vision designed to attract left-wing leaning or right-wing leaning voters. Effectively, you might as well write them on the side of a bus. Voters aren't fooled any more, as they weren't fooled by the side of a bus during the referendum. All that happens is you get an increasingly cynical electorate that knows that whatever it would like to see, that is not what it's going to get. The bubble that calls itself Parliament is desperate to delude itself, which is why you're currently hearing both Tory and Labour parties declaring that they are "a broad church" when palpably they are not.

The nub of the matter to my mind is that as a society, we no longer have a common set of values. As an illustration, you only have to look at the insults being bandied between the rival Brexit / Remain factions, whether it's in Parliament or even these boards.

There would have to be a huge Epiphany - or possibly as Manxie says serious civil unrest - before you would find any solution to this current mess. Unfortunately, revolution isn't in our psyche, so I can't see anything changing anytime soon.

TheOstrich wrote:I can't see anything changing anytime soon.

Nor me TBH.

I see the rants claiming that we will get rid of these pests come the next general election.

No we won't. The parties will put up the same old faces, except for in those defector seats, and most of us will and wander down to the polling station and vote tribally as we usually do. There will not be any great draining of the swamp. What we might see is one of the lowest turnouts ever recorded as people refuse to vote in protest, but come the GE after and all will be back to normal.

This one won't be wandering down the polling station I'm afraid.
If as seems likely Brexit isn't going to happen then it's 99% likely that I'm done with voting.
I'm increasingly of the opinion that to vote is to endorse a thoroughly rotten system filled with thoroughly rotten people.

cromwell wrote:This one won't be wandering down to the polling station I'm afraid.
If as seems likely Brexit isn't going to happen then it's 99% likely that I'm done with voting.
I'm increasingly of the opinion that to vote is to endorse a thoroughly rotten system filled with thoroughly rotten people.

I know how you feel, Cromwell, but I don't think that the answer is "not to vote".

The system, in my opinion, is not 'thoroughly rotten', (although I agree that there are a lot of rotten people in it at present),but
the answer is not to abstain from voting, but to vote for the right calibre of people - after making a mental note of those who
you definitely won't vote for again.

If the Government fails to carry out the wishes of the majority of the referendum voters, there is bound to be serious repercussions.

She is far too intransigent to lead a nation. Stubborn.

Aggers wrote:... the answer is not to abstain from voting, but to vote for the right calibre of people.

Unfortunately we, the electorate, do not get to choose the calibre of the candidates, that is down to the parties and their selection committees. Once their parachutes have been fitted those chosen are dropped in on us whether we want them or not.

It is also unfortunate that it is financially punitive for independents to stand - we could do with more of them. A way round that could be looked at.

The only thing we can do is to vote for what is put before us because if we do not vote - even in protest - we are told by certain sections that we have no right to any say nor to complain. The only way to properly register a protest is to vote but spoil your ballot paper - those papers are counted in the result.

My way round things would be to have "None of the above" (Nota) on ballot papers. If it gets the most votes the election is held again but with a whole new set of candidates. If it 'wins' three times the constituency seat remains empty. It will never happen, but if it did and lots of seats were empty things might change.