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Labour PPCs - we don't seek office for personal gain
Five pledges that show we mean business
20 May 2009
The expenses scandal brings suspicion on all those who seek to represent their political parties. As a measure of our intention to try and restore an element of trust between voters and political representatives ahead of the June 4th elections, and an eventual general election, as Prospective Parliamentary Candidates we would like to put on record the following five pledges which will govern our conduct if we are elected to Parliament.
A great many of our current Members of Parliament already embody these principles in their day-to-day conduct and their example should be recognised. We would not like to return to a system where only those who are already independently wealthy can put themselves forward for election to Parliament, so necessary reforms to the system of MPs’ expenses and allowances should acknowledge the legitimate need for those representing constituencies outside Greater London to claim for appropriate accommodation and travel expenses. In the absence, however, of a decision on the final form of the new system, these pledges will act as our guide if we have the honour of being elected to the House of Commons.
- As a parliamentary candidate I will subscribe to high standards of integrity, transparency, accountability and financial economy;
- I seek elected office not for personal gain but to serve the public and our democracy, which I consider an honour and a privilege;
- I will publish my expenses online within a month of submitting them and publicise them annually in full to constituents;
- I will hold regular meetings with my community and will regularly report back to my constituency party;
- I will apply the principle of best value to all decisions I make which involve the use of public money to cover my duties, including for travel and accommodation.
Signed:
- Stephen Twigg, Labour and Co-op PPC for Liverpool West Derby
- Rachel Reeves, Labour PPC for Leeds West
- Kevin Bonavia, Labour PPC for Rochford and Southend East
- Tom Flynn, Labour PPC for Southend West
- Kevin McKeever, Labour PPC for Harborough
- Stuart King, Labour PPC for Putney
- Alex Hilton, Labour PPC for Chelsea and Fulham
- Joe Goldberg, Labour PPC for Witney
- David Rowntree, Labour PPC for Cities of London and Westminster
- Lucy Powell, Labour PPC for Manchester Withington
- Andrew Pakes, Labour and Co-op PPC for Milton Keynes North
- Matthew Rodda, Labour PPC for East Surrey
- Cllr Allan Davies, Labour PPC for Basildon and Billericay
- Julian Ware-Lane, Labour PPC for Castle Point
- Sonia Klein, Labour PPC for Ilford North
- Emma Reynolds, Labour PPC for Wolverhampton North East
- Luke Pollard, Labour PPC for South West Devon
- Charlotte Mackenzie, Labour PPC for Truro and Falmouth
- Alan Strickland, Labour PPC for Berwick-upon-Tweed
- Nick Smith, Labour PPC for Blaenau Gwent
- Ruth Smeeth, Labour PPC for Burton
- Jude Robinson, Labour PPC for Camborne, Redruth and Hayle
- Bambos Charalambous, Labour PPC for Enfield Southgate
- Tim Shand, Labour PPC for Guildford
- James Alexander, Labour PPC for York Outer
- Bhavna Joshi, Labour PPC for Central Suffolk & North Ipswich
- Rachel Voller, Labour PPC for Romford
- Rebecca Rennison, Labour PPC for South West Wiltshire
- Lee Jameson, Labour PPC for St Austell and Newquay
- Jonathan Slater, Labour PPC for Aldershot
- Anneliese Dodds, Labour PPC for Reading East
- Brian Tomlinson, Labour PPC for Twickenham
- Richard Scorer, Labour PPC for Hazel Grove
- Rushanara Ali, Labour PPC for Bethnal Green and Bow
- Claire Hazelgrove, Labour PPC for Skipton and Ripon
- Steve Morgan, Labour PPC for Orpington
- David Williams, Labour PPC for Crewe and Nantwich
- Kathryn White, Labour PPC for Aylesbury
- Daniel Zeichner, Labour PPC for Cambridge
- Eleanor Tunnicliffe, Labour PPC for Richmond Park
- Tony Clements, Labour PPC for Epping Forest
- Edward Brown, Labour PPC for Bedfordshire North East
- Alison Moore, Labour PPC for Finchley and Golders Green
- Chris Clark, Labour PPC for Ashford
- Paul Smith, Labour PPC for Bristol West
- Sally Gimson, Labour PPC for South Leicestershire
- Swatantra Nandanwar, Labour PPC for Maldon
- Craig Montgomery, Labour PPC for Epsom & Ewell
- Jonathan Roberts, Labour PPC for Thirsk & Malton
- Anas Sarwar, Labour PPC for Glasgow Central
- Jack Scott, Labour PPC for Sheffield Hallam
- Ian Campbell, Labour PPC for Newark
- Antoine Tinnion, Labour PPC for Hexham
- Michael Castle, Labour PPC South Norfolk
- Philipa Latimer, Labour PPC for St Ives
- Jane Edbrooke, Labour PPC for East Hampshire
- Alex Cunningham, Labour PPC for Stockton North
- Jayne Innes, Labour PPC for Nuneaton
- John Wiseman, Labour PPC for Westmorland and Lonsdale
- John Cowan, Labour PPC for South East Cambridgeshire
- Max Freedman, Labour PPC for Kingston and Surbiton
- Jenny Rathbone, Labour PPC for Cardiff Central
- Stephen Terry, Labour PPC for Hertford and Stortford
- Julie Elliot, Labour PPC for Sunderland Central
- Tariq Sadiq, Labour PPC for South Cambridgeshire
- Simon Holland, Labour PPC for Chichester
- Jane Thomas, Labour PPC for Keighley
- Ian Ross, Labour PPC for Worthing West
- Mike Hobday, Labour PPC for Welwyn Hatfield
- Mike Robb, Labour PPC for Inverness Nairn Badenoch and Strathspey
- Paul Foster, Labour PPC for Ribble Valley
- Shabana Mahmood, Labour PPC for Birmingham Ladywood
- Sam Townend, Labour PPC for Bristol North West
- Rob Pocock, Labour PPC for Sutton Coldfield
- James Royston, Labour PPC for Bexhill and Battle
- Richard Stevens, Labour PPC for Oxford West and Abingdon
- Bridget Phillipson, Labour PPC for Houghton and Sunderland South
- Susan Hinchcliffe, Labour PPC for Shipley
- Danny Marten, Labour PPC for Haltemprice & Howden
- Howard Linsley, Labour PPC for Meon Valley
- Toby Perkins, Labour PPC for Chesterfield
- Peter Roberts, Labour PPC for North East Cambridgeshire
- Darren Jones, Labour PPC for Torridge and West Devon
- Damien Welfare, Labour PPC for Chipping Barnet
- Emily Benn, Labour PPC for Worthing East and Shoreham
- Simon Burgess, Labour and Co-op PPC for Brighton Kemptown
- Robert Smith, Labour PPC for Havant
- Hattie Ajderian, Labour PPC for Bath
- Ed Williams, Labour PPC for Meriden
- Michael Watson, Labour PPC for Broxbourne
- Mark Dempsey, Labour PPC for the Cotswolds
- Heidi Benzing, Labour PPC for Brentwood and Ongar
- Margaret Curran, Labour PPC for Glasgow East
- John Mackay, Labour PPC Caithness, Sutherland & Easter Ross
- Martin Jevon, Labour PPC for Taunton Dean
- Funda Pepperell, Labour PPC for Basingstoke
- Gerry Ryan, Labour and Co-op PPC for Croydon Central
- Jayne Buckland, Labour PPC for Wellingborough
- Darren Barrenger, Labour PPC for Harwich and North Essex
- Howard Dawber, Labour PPC for Bexleyheath and Crayford
- Ian Boulton, Labour PPC for Filton and Bradley Stoke
- Grahame Morris, Labour PPC for Easington
- Donald John MacSween, Labour PPC for Eilean Siar
- Kath McGuirk, Labour PPC for Hornchurch and Upminster
- Yasmin Qureshi, Labour PPC for Bolton South East
- Ian Saunders,Labour PPC for Beverley & Holderness
- Sid Garg, Labour PPC for Uxbridge and South Ruislip
- Sheila Gilmore, Labour PPC for Edinburgh East
- Debbie Abrahams, Labour PPC for Colne Valley
- Rick Everitt, Labour PPC for Old Bexley and Sidcup
- Anita MacDonald, Labour PPC for Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner
- Mike Le-Surf, Labour PPC for Rayleigh and Wickford
- Patrick Davies, Labour PPC for Winchester
- Greg McClymont, Labour PPC for Cumbernauld, Kilsyth and Kirkintilloch East
- Andrew Judge, Labour PPC for Wimbledon
- Graham Giles, Labour PPC for Gosport
- Katrina Murray, Labour PPC for Dundee East
- Steph Booth, Labour PPC for Calder Valley
- Richard Jackson, Labour PPC for Tatton
- Chris Gudgin, Labour PPC for North West Cambridgeshire
- Ash Rehal, Labour PPC for Faversham and Midkent
- Tom Ross, Labour PPC for Altrincham & Sale West
- James A .Normington, Labour PPC for Sleaford & North Hykeham
- Stella Creasy, Labour PPC for Walthamstow
- Jim Conalty, Labour PPC for Southport
- Hamish Sandison, Labour PPC for Monmouth
- Nick Milton, Labour PPC for Kenilworth and Southam
- Liam Robinson, Labour PPC for Fylde
- Bruce Hogan, Labour PPC for Forest of Dean
- David Graham, Labour PPC for Argyll and Bute
- Clyde Loakes, Labour PPC for Northampton South
- Andrew Skudder, Labour PPC for Horsham
- Sharon Carr-Brown, Labour PPC for Bournemouth West
- Paul Blomfield, Labour PPC for Sheffield Central
- David Boot, Labour PPC for Mid Sussex
- Robert Hull, Labour PPC for Reigate
- Richard Henry, Labour PPC for North East Herts
- James Green, Labour PPC for Cheltenham
- Janice Hurne, Labour PPC for New Forest West
- Dr Neeraj Patil, Labour PPC for Surrey Heath
- Jamie McMahon, Labour PPC for Gainsborough
- Kevin McNerney, Labour PPC for Harrogate and Knaresborough
Any PPC who wishes to sign the statement or who has pledges of their own please contact Jessica Asato on jessica@progressives.org.uk or on 07939594634
Comments
Posted by Jane Thomas on 20 May 2009, 6:13:27 PM
The Chair of Keighley CLP wrote to the local newspapers last weekend to say that the CLP had asked for, and been given, an undertaking from me that confirms total openess about expenses and willingness to publish expenses information on a regular basis.
Posted by Stephen Rennie on 20 May 2009, 6:19:53 PM
This is a good start in reclaiming public trust.
Posted by Mike Hobday on 20 May 2009, 7:08:06 PM
I've also published my personal pledges at http://mikehobday.blogspot.com/2009/05/personal-integrity.html
Mike Hobday
Labour candidate, Welwyn Hatfield
Posted by williamcobbett on 20 May 2009, 7:58:07 PM
you bunch of goody two shoes! no politics in these declarations! we have heard enough about good personal intentions.....
how about an enforceable pledge to seek the Chiltern (or if that ;s taken, the Northstead) hundreds in the event of a challenge to personal (not office) expenses involving more than £1000?
this pious drool - is a good start in endorsing public cynicism, Stephen Rennie! neoBlairite Pecksniffery - a pretty straight sort of guy.....show us your WMDs
William Cobbett
Posted by Roma Mills on 20 May 2009, 8:50:08 PM
This is no more than people should expect.
Posted by David John Steed on 21 May 2009, 8:02:28 AM
I would hope that thsi is the start of a reform in the party whereby we get back to our old socialist values. If some parliamentaians had not fallen in love with the failed system that we now live under, core values would have been maintained. Lets go for it!
Posted by James Normington on 25 May 2009, 6:13:22 PM
This is only the start. The electorate deserve the finest calibre who execute their responsibilities wisely and in the public interest. The time has come to revise the expense system and replace it with a taxable allowance. Furthermore we should prohibit MPs from taking second jobs and removing such obvious vested interests from the House.
Posted by Dr George M. P. Bailey on 27 May 2009, 4:37:04 PM
All very laudable.... BUT.....
Where is the pledge to defy bullying by the whips; heaven forbid that they are still in existence if we get real radical reform of the whole set up and you get elected.
James is right; So where is the pledge to have only one job; that of MP.
A pledge must not, like the polish, lose its shine. it must not be one after another, turning into a list of empty promises.
We need radical reform of politics at both national and local level, rid our country of unelected bodies as well.
Where is the pledge to hold governments to account when they change their minds from manifesto propaganda without rigorous defence of their decision.
All too often we get pledges... remember Prescott and his little card...
Where is the pledge to drag Westminster and the whole interaction between MPs in the house, into the 21st century
Yes, it started with money; but it is much more than expenses, it needs a change in the cultural attitude of the Lords and Commons toward us the electorate. Accusations of hysteria and coming on television saying some MPs are suicidal (I sincerely hope not and offer them my help), is yet another means of showing contempt and not addressing the issues.
If you really want to do the public a service, that is your challenge, to bring about radical change and make everyone accountable,make our country Great again, bring all the political system and civil servants into the 21st century. Actions speak louder than words; start now, you don't need to be elected to begin the process!
Putting the honour back into honourable is going to be a very hard task, because if you mean it, you will have to challenge your colleagues and party member, after all that is being human.
"Happiness depends on being free, and freedom depends on being courageous" Thucydides
Go forward with courage; your battle against those how do not want change is going to be a real struggle, there will be much wailing and weeping!
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