Peter Bone: another victim of the Liberal Democrats

With disgraced MP Peter Bone now facing a by-election after a successful recall petition, it’s worth recalling that the legislation to oust such MPs is one of the achievements of Liberal Democrats in Parliament.

It was Lib Dems who at the front of the pack in calling for such legislation before 2010. Then it was Lib Dems who were central to getting the legislation passed in 2010-15. It’s legislation that has turned out to be effective, and criticisms of it at the time – such as from the Green Party for it being a “sham” – have not exactly aged well.

There are things that can be done to improve the legislation, such as to avoid a repeat of the Northern Ireland experience where it was made very hard for people to sign up to back a recall with only three locations being used.

But overall, look at the sequence of successful recalls. It’s a successful reform that is improving our politics, and wouldn’t have happened without the Liberal Democrats.

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