The hon. Gentleman mentions Edmund Burke. In Burke’s famous address to his electors in Bristol he said that Members of Parliament should sacrifice their interests in favour of their constituents, but he also said that Members of Parliament owe their constituents their judgment and that if they betray their judgment to their constituents’ opinion they are betraying, not serving, them. Take the recent example of same-sex marriage. My concerns is that I was lobbied vigorously by constituents to oppose it and I voted for it. What protection would there be in the recall mechanism for a Member of Parliament who takes a conscious decision to vote against public opinion?
Recall of MPs Bill
Proceeding contribution from
Conor Burns
(Conservative)
in the House of Commons on Tuesday, 21 October 2014.
It occurred during Debate on bills on Recall of MPs Bill.
Type
Proceeding contribution
Reference
586 c798 
Session
2014-15
Chamber / Committee
House of Commons chamber
Subjects
Librarians' tools
Timestamp
2023-12-04 19:15:12 +0000
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