Andrew Phillips, who sits in the Lords as Lord Phillips of Sudbury for the LibDems, joined us for the session of The People's Parliament last night and was one of the first to raise a question. His view was robust and firmly put: he reckoned that in his 17 years in the Lords he has helped pass tens of thousands of pages of legislation but said that despite that he thinks most MPs are “wet behind the ears” (his words) when engaged in this activity because, in his view, the problem is not a lack of legislation in this country but is the lack of enforcement of much of the legislation we have got.
He had a remedy to suggest: he reckoned parliament should close for a year (almost no one would notice right now it has so little to do) and MPs and the Lords should be sent out to see what is actually happening up and down this country. It will never happen of course, but in my response I supported his suggestion because,as I said at the time, if just some MPs went to spend some serious time at HMRC they'd realise just how massively understaffed it is and how vital it really is that it be allocated the funding for at least 20,000 new staff. Those people could make sure individual taxpayers get the service they need from HMRC. Vitally, they could also be engaged in closing the tax gap.
There would, I suggest, be no better way of defeating austerity in this country.
And there would be no better way of creating social justice.
Nor could we reduce inequality more effectively however long we tried.
As important, by showing that cheating did not pay we could change the moral climate of this country and in the process could create the level playing field on which all businesses have an equal chance of competing. That is the foundation of prosperity in the market sector of a mixed economy.
If that could be achieved by shutting parliament for a year I am all for it.
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I’d go further Richard. Given that our legislature is so full of ‘cowardly state’ politicians (with some honourable exceptions) who seem more in touch with the aims and wishes of the rapacious global finance industry than those of British citizens, why don’t we just close Parliament permanently? After all, if so many of its legislators believe that the debts incurred as a result of bailing out the said finance industry mean the scope of the state should be reduced to that of the 1930s (so no NHS, no social security, no housing or council services), what is the need for them when there is so little left of the state for them to oversee?
I’m sure that Westminster could be sold for a pretty penny to some property developer. Obviously, as in every other case when asssets of the state have been sold it’ll be sold at a big discount, like, say, the Royal Mail, but even so, such a prime spot of Central London real estate eh………………….?
And then it could all be rebuilt as luxury flats for the world’s super wealthy to live in or be bought by absentee landlords as luxury buy to lets. And think of the money to be saved by not paying MP’s salaries or those nice little allowances their lordships get for turning up for debates! It’ll all go towards closing that terrible deficit and paying off the national debt.
I’m saying this with my tongue (but not very firmly) in cheek of course.
I remain a democrat
But the need for reform is very obvious, I agree
I’ve ordered your book for Christmas but I have to say again that we must realise that we are not dealing with a ‘cowardly state’ because when we do this we are assuming that the MP s know something is wrong but lack the courage to do anything about it. I don’t think that this is true anymore. There is a deeper malaise at work here.
i suggest that what we are really dealing with (taking into consideration how nei-lib idea(l)s have become inculcated in our Government) is a collusive state – one that KNOWS what it is doing and has set out to deliberatey do everything they can to make things worse because they simply want to look after the 1% and not their voters.
It is the state as ‘anti-state’ – saying that traditional government is coercive and evil and wanting to get out of the way of voters at the same time as privatising public services that end up costing more to voters in the long run. Protagonists of this sort of thinking have been more emboldened since the Berlin Wall came down I’m afraid. Any restraint as a result of an opposing political/economic system exisitng has been put to one side. Perhaps forever.
Only time will tell how long the public will put up with this. It’s a waiting game now I think. I expect to end my life not knowing how it will all end to be honest. As for the British public, they come across as a bunch of Turkeys voting for Christmas again and again. Over the pond, Jeb Bush is considering standing for president involving the same electorate who voted his brother in twice. So much for democracy.
I agree with you – and do in the book
I hope you enjoy it