Asking my MP to act for UK Democracy

I am writing to my MP again.

This is not big news; I quite often fire off letters to my MP.  To be fair to him, he always replies, but as yet not in a conclusive and fully supportive manner.

Being an MP, I’m sure that he gets a lot of correspondence and there will be letters from other constituents that take an opposing view to mine.

However, this letter is different. This letter is about the future of British democracy. So, I should expect a full and committed endorsement of the need to maintain the democracy of this country and the institutions that ensure its scrutiny, right?

Just feeling the need to question that statement suggests to me that I am losing faith in the commitment of this government to the basic principles of our democracy. That is incredibly sad. I have grown up believing that the British democracy is a great and noble example that the world should follow; That the British system is so good, nobody ever felt the need to write it down and call it a constitution; That our elected officials treasure the system as much as I do and would never act counter to the spirit of freedom and democracy.

Yet now we have an elected government that appears to be determined to undermine the very fabric of our democracy and are making it appear incredibly fragile.

At this point I could go off on a long and detailed list of the indiscretions of the UK Government. Give examples of how little value they place in truth, honesty and integrity. Go off on a long and impassioned rant over the ignoring of the Nolan Principles of Public Life. Wind myself up over cronyism, favours for their mates, perceptions of corruption and gerrymandering.

I am not sure that I have the stomach for that right now. Instead I will just post my letter to my MP. I will revisit this when I have a reply.

-Letter follows-

Dear Mr Pursglove,

Many thanks for your letter dated 18th September where you responded at length about the Internal Markets Bill. I fear some confusion must have been generated by the way I presented my query as this was only part of my concern that I raised as a supporting point & a symptom to highlight why I was uncomfortable with the direction of travel of the current government.

I will therefore attempt to ensure clarity as I repeat my query.

Do you commit to the continuing democracy of the United Kingdom and ensuring that the supporting institutions and democratic principles are robust and adequately funded to ensure that adequate scrutiny is applied to Government actions? Do you also commit to ensuring the government is subject to full scrutiny to ensure that it follows the rule of law?

As you hold a Politics degree, I am sure you will be disturbed that one of your constituents would ever feel the need to ask their MP to commit to British democracy. As you are a passionate campaigner to regain sovereignty from the EU, I am sure that you would be aghast if having regained our sovereignty, it became tainted by corruption, unelected advisors, contempt for the rule of law and an erosion of our British freedoms.

To assist, below is a summary of why I feel current government actions threaten the future of our precious and fragile democracy and some supplemental questions.

• 1       The Civil Service is supposed to be provide independent & impartial advice and support in the implementation of government policy. Since this government has come to power, they have systematically replaced senior Civil Servants with their own, seemingly political appointments. Do you believe this supports good governance and ensures adequate scrutiny is applied to the details of government actions?
• 2.       The government has signalled it is intent to limit access to Judicial Review of government. Do you believe this supports good governance and ensures adequate scrutiny is applied to the details of government actions?
• 3.       The judicial system has been subject to a series of cuts and budget constraints over the last decade that has resulted in ever growing backlog of cases. This backlog has only been made worse by the current Covid crisis. Do you commit to ensuring that the funding of our legal system to address the backlog and ensure that our justice system is functioning effectively?
• 4.       The Russian Report was published by the ISC on 21/07/2020. This showed some unsettling interventions in the UK political system. Do you commit to pushing the government to holding an independent enquiry into the impacts of the foreign interventions into the UK democratic process and putting forward recommendations to prevent this in future?
• 5.       Government ministers appear to be avoiding scrutiny and taking actions that appear to be corrupting the democratic process. An example being the allocation of the Town Fund which appears to have been done in a way that ignores the advice of officials and benefits Conservative targeted marginal seats. Do you commit to ensuring that the decision is reviewed and that funds are allocated according to need rather than political gain?
• 6.       The government appears to be denuding the BBC and the free press in the country of funding while placing political friends in positions of authority that can influence the impartiality and freedom of the press. Do you commit to ensuring that the BBC is adequately funded and maintains full editorial independence?
• 7.       Michael Gove has signalled a willingness to amend the UK Human Rights Act ‘to make it easier’ for the government to enact ministers’ executive orders. Do you commit to protecting the UK Human Rights Act, that you will ensure that no changes will be made to the act without full and proper consultation and that when any actions come to be voted upon, they will be a matter of the MP conscience rather than a three-line whip?

At this point, I wish to briefly return to your letter on the Internal Market Bill. It appears to be a standard letter that a number of MP have sent to constituents and I am sure you have already been made aware of the inaccuracies and incorrect assumptions made within it – not least the selective and totally incorrect citing of the Miller Case.

I should remind you of why your government finds itself having to breach international law and are struggling to find convincing arguments to justify this shameful action. You supported the Withdrawal Agreement. You voted to reduce the time to scrutinise the agreement, even though at the time concerns were raised over the impacts on the NI peace accord. You then fought and won an election based on the flawed Withdrawal Agreement. That may not have been an issue, but you then voted on an Agriculture Bill that removed food & animal welfare standard provisions sparking the fear that food produced to the woeful US standards would find its way into the EU via Northern Ireland.

The mess of the Internal Markets Bill is of your own making and by showing such disregard to International Law, has destroyed any moral authority the UK may have had when dealing with China on Hong Kong.

 

I look forward to your response on the many questions raised in this letter.

UPDATE: It is now three weeks since I sent the letter. As yet, no response. A follow up is needed.