The Bishop of Lichfield has defended the “decent and honest MPs” in the wake of the expenses scandal – but claimed that some should be sacked.
The Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill’s comments come in the wake of Lichfield MP Michael Fabricant’s call for an independent review of MPs pay and expenses.
A number of MPs have faced questions from across the media after the Daily Telegraph began publishing details of their expenses.
But the Rt Revd Jonathan Gledhill said:
“I’ve been absolutely scandalised by some of the stories of what is coming out; and I’ve felt like I don’t want to vote either; or at least I don’t know how to vote.
“But then when you step back a bit, you realise that the vast majority of MPs have not been fiddling their expenses and we must be careful not to bring down the whole democratic system. What’s important is that it is not so much the system, it’s the people. And some people just need to be sacked. But for the rest of us, we need to keep on exercising our vote so that we can insist that all the decent and honest MPs reform and clarify their expenses system.”
And despite the scandal, the Bishop of Lichfield has urged people not to give up on the political system.
He added:
“There’s one thing wrong with a democracy that isn’t working very well; and that’s no democracy at all. And if you think of the systems that we have had in the past, and they have had in other parts of the world when democracy has failed, it’s actually even more important that we vote at this moment than usual.
“I’m just looking at the history of The Potteries, when it was the pottery bosses who had the say over thousands of people’s lives. The result was terrible poverty and we don’t want to go back to a system where a few powerful people have all the say.
“It is important that, even if it is difficult to know how to vote at the moment, that all of us should use our vote and use it to the best of our ability; otherwise the whole democratic system might be in danger.”
