Wednesday 19 March 2008

Mostly "Superfluous" Politicians.


Mr Smith read with interest the article by Tom Brown in this week's Scotland On Sunday.

"11-a-side is too many in political game ... PSST! Need a new £10,000 kitchen, a luxury three-piece suite, the latest widescreen plasma TV, even free dry-cleaning? Don't be a mug and pay for them yourself, become a MP. Want to make a killing on the Edinburgh property market? Get in quick, because a number of MSPs have. Fancy £145,000 to spend on scams? Easy, get the initials MEP after your name ... Every Scot has no fewer than – count 'em – eleven elected representatives at his or her beck and call. Every Scot can now call on one local councillor, one Westminster MP, one directly elected first-past-the-post MSP, seven regional list MSPs and an MEP. We should be the best-served and most utterly contented constituents in Britain, if not the world."

Much as Mr Smith agrees with Mr Brown's general assertions he has to point out that since last year's council elections in Scotland, most Scots have four locally elected councillors meaning that the average Scot actually has no fewer than fourteen elected representatives ... even worse than Mr Brown suggested. And that ignores the fact that all of Scotland's seven MEPS cover the whole of Scotland and are voted for using PR, so arguably we actually have twenty elected representatives for every Scot. Way too many.

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