Tuesday, March 03, 2009
MPs in Shameful Vote to Keep Home Addresses Secret
Iain Dale 10:38 AM
Would you like to be able to check on whether your Member of Parliament actually has a home in your Parliamentary constituency or not ?
Would you like to be able to work out which of their several homes, paid for out of public funds, is their main one, or whether they are "doing a Jacqui Smith" and claiming extra money for a more expensive London property, pretending that it is their main residence ?
Surely this information might influence whether you believe a Parliamentary candidate's claims to be a "local" or not ?
In future, you will be denied this basic information, which has been available for many years, without causing any "security" problems, following Monday's disgraceful vote in the Commons, if it is not overturned.
Members of Parliament have sneaked in an amendment, without any debate to the Political Parties and Elections Bill right at the end of the Report Stage, and just before the Bill was rubber stamped by the Commons for the Third Reading.
Naturally, MPs who don't live in their constituencies - and there are still plenty of them, believe it or nor - will be delighted by this move. See how your MP voted HERE.
So, perhaps we should ask Tom Harris why he voted to keep his address secret. Come on Tom, tell us. And to my astonishment, Douglas Carswell voted the same way. He too might furnish us with an explanation.
Looks like we will have to rely on the House of Lords to overturn this amendment. Perhaps it is time or the good folks at MySociety to launch another campaign...
UPDATE: Tom Harris launches a ridiculous defence of his vote, the natural conclusion of which is that he believes Sir Fred Goodwin's address should be kept private too.The Plight of UKIP
Iain Dale 9:23 AM
One thing I hadn't realised, though. Apparently Professor Tim Congdon has defected back to the Conservatives. He is a formidable economic brain. I wonder how long it will be before Malcolm Pearson travels the same path?
UPDATE: A reader points out that Richard North wrote yesterday on EU Referendum that most of UKIP's woes are all down to one man - Nigel Farage. Wrong. Farage is the only recognisable UKIP figure and he has given it a profile in the media few others could have achieved. The problem for UKIP is that is has too many people pulling in different directions. Farage has tried to modernise it, but has been fought every step of the way.
Tuesday, 3 March 2009
Spyblog reports that MPs voted yesterday to keep their home addresses secret from their electorate. Up until now, candidates in elections have to list their home addresses on ballot paper. This amendment to the Parties & Elections Bill will mean that they no longer have to. The MPs (from all parties) who voted in favour cited "security issues" as the reason. Rubbish. If a terrorist wishes to find out where a politician lives, there are plenty of ways to do it. Here's what Spyblog says...
The Independent has a lengthy analysis by Ben Russell of the situation UKIP finds itself in, ahead of the Euro elections. I don't want to comment too much on this as I have an article in next month's GQ profiling Nigel Farage and looking at UKIP's prospects, but I do think Ben Russell is broadly right in his analysis, which suggests that the party is going to find it very difficult indeed to retain all their seats.
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