100,000 Sign Petition for Right to Recall MPs

Over 100,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the government bring forward a bill to allow voters to kick out an under-performing MP half way through a parliament.

The petition, hosted on the 38 Degrees website, currently has 122,115 signatures and reads: “Dear David Cameron, Nick Clegg and Ed Miliband

Currently, if a large number of voters are dissatisfied with their MP, there is no way for them to have that MP removed until the next General Election. There have been numerous calls to change this, however, especially after Maria Miller’s recent expenses scandal.

The former Culture Secretary was criticised for her response to an internal investigation that initially recommended she repay £45,000 of expenses. She initially refused to resign as Culture Secretary, but eventually fell on her sword after generating days of bad headlines for the government.

Despite calls for her to stand down as an MP, she has refused, and her local electorate currently have no way of removing her.

Conservative MP Zac Goldsmith had proposed a bill to allow voters to recall MPs, but after much delay the government announced earlier this year that it was dropping the proposal following objections from the Liberal Democrats. A furious Mr Goldsmith issued a string a angry tweets, saying: “Even by the s****y standards of dishonest UK politics, the Lib-Dems really are revolting. I cannot understand why anyone supports them.”