megimoo
05-23-2009, 04:57 PM
325 MPs to be swept away at next election
AT least half of the House of Commons’ 646 MPs will be swept away at the general election, as voters take revenge on the political classes for the expenses scandal.
The departure of 325 members of parliament as a result of forced resignations, retirement and defeat at the polls would represent the biggest clear-out of parliament since 1945.
As many as 30 will be forced to resign directly because of the expenses scandal, while whips expect more than 200 to quit because they are unable to cope with continued public anger. Up to 90 MPs will be voted out in the election.
Research conducted by The Sunday Times and Professor Colin Rallings, director of the elections centre at Plymouth University, suggests that about 170 Labour MPs will not defend their seats while 55 Conservatives are also expected to retire.
Dozens more MPs from all parties are likely to lose their seats as voters kick out incumbents, accused of profiting from their allowances.
Rallings said: “If, as the current polls suggest, the Conservatives were to win the general election with an overall majority of 80 seats, it is likely that fully half of MPs in the new House of Commons will be new, a product both of incumbents being defeated and MPs retiring. It would be without parallel since 1945.”
The disclosure comes as Gordon Brown, desperate to retake the political initiative, examines radical constitutional reforms including the introduction of four-year, fixed-term parliaments.
Supporters of the plan say that removing the power of a future prime minister to determine the date of the general election would create a fairer system. However, it would tie the hands of the Conservatives, should they win the election.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6350604.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084
AT least half of the House of Commons’ 646 MPs will be swept away at the general election, as voters take revenge on the political classes for the expenses scandal.
The departure of 325 members of parliament as a result of forced resignations, retirement and defeat at the polls would represent the biggest clear-out of parliament since 1945.
As many as 30 will be forced to resign directly because of the expenses scandal, while whips expect more than 200 to quit because they are unable to cope with continued public anger. Up to 90 MPs will be voted out in the election.
Research conducted by The Sunday Times and Professor Colin Rallings, director of the elections centre at Plymouth University, suggests that about 170 Labour MPs will not defend their seats while 55 Conservatives are also expected to retire.
Dozens more MPs from all parties are likely to lose their seats as voters kick out incumbents, accused of profiting from their allowances.
Rallings said: “If, as the current polls suggest, the Conservatives were to win the general election with an overall majority of 80 seats, it is likely that fully half of MPs in the new House of Commons will be new, a product both of incumbents being defeated and MPs retiring. It would be without parallel since 1945.”
The disclosure comes as Gordon Brown, desperate to retake the political initiative, examines radical constitutional reforms including the introduction of four-year, fixed-term parliaments.
Supporters of the plan say that removing the power of a future prime minister to determine the date of the general election would create a fairer system. However, it would tie the hands of the Conservatives, should they win the election.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/politics/article6350604.ece#cid=OTC-RSS&attr=797084