Euro MP says Tory cull on MPs 'too limited' (Diana Wallis MEP)

Diana Wallis MEP <info@dianawallismep.org.uk>

Euro MP says Tory cull on MPs 'too limited'

March 21, 2006 4:52 PM

Local Euro MP Diana Wallis has said that the 'Tory plans to cut about 50 MPs from the House of Commons in order to fund political parties is too limited'.

Liberal Democrat MEP, Diana Wallis, said:

"Most of UK law now stems from Brussels so there is no need to have as many MPs in Westminster. I would propose a cut to about 400 from the 646 we have at the moment. After all we have almost the same number of MPs now as we did when we were running an Empire at the beginning of the last century. Not to forget that a lot of power has been devolved to Scotland and Wales since then too.

"At the same time I want to see far more referendums allowing people to vote on a whole range of issues. This would also reduce the need for elected representatives at all levels."

Diana Wallis is hosting a conference in the European Parliament on Thursday 23rd March which will discuss 'How can every European citizen directly participate in the EU?'. The Conference will look at ways people across the European Union might bring about changes in laws through citizen's initiatives and referendums.

Notes:

In 1910, the last election before the First World War, 670 MPs were elected to the House of Commons.

On Monday the Conservatives announced their plans to cut the numbers of MPs from 646 to less than 600 to help pay towards the cost of slashing donations to political parties as part of their response to Labour's loans controversy.