Mr Breed's Response

A few posts ago, I wittered on about the proposal to have MPs votes in the House reduced to selecting from a series of choices presented by the government. I won't go into my arguments against this in this posting, coz you can read my rantings below.

However, I did contact Colin Breed to ask him to consider voting against the proposed new voting method as it is an affront to our democracy. Here is the text of my email to him:

Dear Mr Breed,

From the news today, I understand that there will be a vote in the House to decide whether or not to accept Mr Straw's proposed voting system on reform of the House of Lords.

I am certainly in favour of reforming the place, but am most concerned about the threat to democracy (by no means the first by this government) posed by MPs only being permitted to choose from a range of options rather than establish a majority in favour of an exact motion.

Please vote against this proposed voting system and thereby in favour of keeping our democracy alive for a while longer.

Thank you

And here is his response, which I think means he'll be quite happy to accept the new voting method on the basis that any reform (no matter what its real merits) will be better than none. Although it doesn't really say anything at all (how very politician-like).

Thank you for your email and for letting me know of your concerns. There is much activity between Members on all sides. However last time we debated and voted it was a farce. It is important that this time we come to a clear decision.

Kind regards,

Colin Breed MP

Just so's you know what he's up to.