Dont Forget....

Since records first began MP's have had it good.

Only recently have their largesse on expenses, something that has probably been suspected all along been confirmed, only the scale on which they gorged themselves had been grossly underestimated. Of course there have been those who erred on the side of caution, but far too many of them took advantage of the bottomless pit of taxpayer funded expense accounts and lived it up way and above what is reasonable.

Five of them so far have been brought before the courts, and four of them banged up for up to 18 months for fraud, embezzlement, false accounting and a host of other financial related charges.

MP's enjoy a working life that is far removed from the average joe, the likes of you now reading this. Yes, an MP has to be constantly smiling and polite to people, has to turn up to open fetes, award prizes, and also make an appearance at Parliament to vote and contribute to meetings. But that is the job.

Lets say you now, work in a shop or an office. If you turn up once every so often, whenever you feel like it. You sit in your office and read a newspaper, have a little kip for 10 minutes. Pop off to lunch for two hours, then sign a few letters on your return, before mumbling a few "here here" then slip off home.

Effectively that is what an MP does. Of course he or she does constituency work, responding to queries that may come in but they employ staff to filter it all and of course us taxpayers also pay for their second homes, travel expenses and the like.

Now of course an MP is going to say that is pretty unrealistic. They are very busy people dealing with Parliamentary things and constituents. Probably true. But what they dont want to mention is that most also have second, third, fourth or even more "jobs" as directors, executive directors, or non-executive directors of other firms, that all lean on an MP's time.

The main reason why many of them are so busy as they bleat on is because about half of the time they should be working as an MP is spent working for some other company, usually attending meetings or jetting off on a sales delegation or something in sunnier climes.

Make no mistake, if you now copied the way an MP worked in your current place of work you would get a third and final written warning at best, or immediately shown the door at worst.

But it isn't illegal for an MP to do this. Of course not.  They do it because they can. There is no one to tell them otherwise, except when the election comes round every four or five years. In the run up to it they do just enough to remind you what wonderful people they are and why they want your vote again.

MP's have had it far too good for far too long.

But there is something you can do, to make the working life of an MP just that little bit closer to the working life you, your family or your friends have to follow.

Its not going to suddenly turn an MP into a super human, they will still have the opportunity to make the most of their position, but it will mean they have to work just that little bit harder to get elected.

Anything to make an MP work harder for their votes has got to be a good thing.

So on May 5th, go down to your polling station where you usually vote and vote "YES" on changing the voting system to AV. Its a small step, but it will make the job of being an MP just that little bit less cosy.

If you are in any doubt as to whether to vote YES. Ask yourself one question...

Why do the main parties all oppose the switch to AV?

The answer is simple. Why upset the applecart and make life difficult for MPs to get re-elected.

You are the master and the MP is the servant.
May 5th make your voice heard and show them.

Vote YES.