Power of Recall

The former Labour minister and current MP for Rotheram - Denis McShane - has become the latest 'honourable' member to fall victim to a parliamentary expenses scandal.

Despite paying back over £12,000 - which he falsely and deliberately claimed - Denis McShane was facing 12 months suspension from the House of Commons - following a long and detailed investigation by the parliament's Standards and Priviliges Committee (CSP).

So McShane jumped before he was pushed and has now ended his own parliamentary career by resigning from his Rotherham seat - which will now trigger a by-election and potentially a new police investigation into his dishonest behaviour.

The amazing thing is that the MP stopped co-operating with the CSP investigation into his expense earlier this year.

Yet no action was taken to discipline McShane for his outrageous behaviour - only after the CSP announced its decision did Labour withdraw the whip - effectively expelling him from the party.

But if things had turned out differently McShane could have escaped justice - and continued as an MP for years while still drawing his £65,000 annual salary - until the next general election.

As others have done of course - such as Eric Joyce the former Labour MP for Falkirk.

What the UK needs is a similar system to the one that operates in other countries such as Amrica - where elected representatives can be 'recalled' by the local electorate - if they have badly misbehaved and brought their elected office into disrepute.

In fact a power of 'recall' was widely debated in the wake of the Westminster MPs' expenses scandal - yet the idea has been quietly allowed to drop instead of being turned into a reality.

Yet making our elected representatives more accountable in such circumstances is surely in everyone's interests - so there is no good reason to explain why all the political parties have gone cold on the idea.