My MP is Helen Southworth (Warrington South - Labour). According to her They Work for You page, she voted "strongly" in favour of ID Cards and never rebels against her party.

This is a problem. Tomorrow she faces a vote in the House of Commons over whether full details of MP's expenses should be exempt from the Freedom of Information Act (EDIT: She doesn't any more - Labour has backed down). Labour tried to block release of this information and lost in every court they tried so now are resorting to using a parlimentary order to prevent the release of this information. So much so that they are imposing a three line whip on their MPs (a three line whip is the strongest form of instruction a party can issue to its members, not following it could be a risky move and cost you party influence (but probably gain you public support)).

As Labour is the party which has brought us ever increasing attacks to civil liberties, often coupled with the claim that "if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear", I believe that the same principles should apply to our MPs. Voting in favour of this order is saying you have something to hide. Something to fear. More than that, it shows that you are representing not the people who voted for you, but your party. The heart of our democracy is that you represent the people who voted for you at general election. You are held accountable by them. Being held accountable by another body is the heart of corruption in politics. Political Parties shouldn't be the be all and end all of an MPs decision making process, we have to get involved and remind them of that. They work for us, they represent us, not their party.

MySociety are campaigning against this. They point out

In yesterday’s inauguration speech, President Obama said: “And those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.” It is time to tell our politicians that this is the attitude we’re looking for in our leaders.

I've written to my MP (below) - I hope it gets read in time, and I encourage you all to do likewise. Tools are available to discover more about your MP and to write to them. Use them. Prove that our democracy is about the citizens, not the parties.

Alex
x x

Dear Helen Southworth,

I am writing to you about tomorrow's vote on the release of MP's expense claims.

I believe strongly that the people who represent us in our parliament need to be open and transparent with how they do that and how they spend our money. I believe that the majority of representatives spend money wisely and correctly, however this is not an argument for not sharing the information. As has been argued by many Labour MPs over the past few years with several bills which have been viewed as encroaching on our privacy and civil liberties - "If you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear".

Voting with the Government on this issue would be telling us that you or your party does have something to hide. Does have something to fear.

MySociety (which runs several eDemocracy websites) is running a campaign on this issue which would see your vote in this issue prominently displayed on their sites. I understand that the government has issued a three line whip to all Labour MPs. I understand that disobeying a three-line whip is a very strong statement against your party but I believe that you are there to represent your constituents, not your party. If you were to ignore your consituents for goodwill or any other form of support from any other large organistion it would rightly be seen as corruption.

Finally Barack Obama, in his inauguration speech yesterday told us all that "those of us who manage the public’s dollars will be held to account - to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day - because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government." Trust is necessary in any government and I believe voting to hide from the people is a sign of lack of trust. We trust you to be honest with us, we trust you to be able to fight for us, we trust you to be able to explain things to us. How can we do any of that if you hide from us?

I hope you find it appropriate to vote in favour of greater transparency.

Yours sincerely,

Alex Lambert