I am writing to ask for your help promoting our cause I am part of a multi party, multi racial civil action group Prosecute the Parasites in Parliament, seeking a change in government policy. We are angry at watching MPs claiming thousands of pounds in expenses beyond the need of their needs of Parliamentary duty and escaping prosecution.
The Parliamentary standards committee is not a reliable method of ensuring justice, all to often it seems to favour the incumbent administration and not the publics interest. With thousands of people every day in this country facing destitution due to cuts, lining up at food banks for the most basic of help and then watching MPs carrying on with their duties after pocketing thousands they are not entitled to is a hideous injustice. We have started a petition to bring about a change in policy, bypassing the standards committee and demanding that should the IPSA find any instances of questionable financial activity, it is handed over to the Police instead of being investigated in house. This will ensure a neutral party will take an unbiased look at the case, and should there be a problem it will ensure correct prosecution of the case. Should the Honourable member be found guilty then we are demanding they be removed from public duty permanently and have nothing more to do with politics, in either an advisory or consultative position.
5700 people have signed our petition, and the target is a minimum of 150,000.
Many of the MPs in the Commons are aware that the public opinion is that there is one rule for us out here and another for MPs. I quote from Hansard on the Debate on Parliamentary standards 8th April 2014 the words of Former leader of the house Peter Hain ” As a former Leader of the House of Commons, I yield to no one in wanting to protect parliamentary privilege and the independence of the House from external interference, but the truth is that the public think there is one rule for them and another for us. That is an intolerable position for us to find ourselves in, and we have to do something about it. There must be a solution that protects parliamentary privilege and the continuing integrity of the work of the
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Standards Committee while allowing external regulation of this sort of complaint. Otherwise, frankly, we are not going to be in a credible position.”
Whilst I am aware that new regulations are being applied we do not feel that internal solutions will be objective enough, to obtain the necessary neutral view needed for a clear investigation as has been said by Mr Hain and others in the same item in Hansard, too many are concerned with preserving Parliamentary Privilege. This is why we are determined to bring about this change. MPs make the law we want to see them being judged by the same laws. For too long we have watched members of the public subjected to heavy fines, jail sentences and subsequent criminal records, whilst MPs skate off keeping their jobs. Yes there have been cases of some going to prison, Dennis Mcshane being one, however they are few and far between.
Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please follow the link to our petition and see the comments some people have left.
Yours sincerely
Paul Tulk (petition organiser)
https://www.change.org/en-GB/petitions/prosecute-all-mp-s-and-lords-suspected-of-fraud
https://www
