Pledge “katehoey”
"I will contact Kate Hoey, MP for Vauxhall, asking why she has time to become chairman of the Countryside Alliance when she only attended 55% of votes as our Member of Parliament. but only if 10 other Lambeth residents will do the same."
— Richard Pope, Resident of Lambeth (contact)
Deadline to sign up by: 25th September 2005
10 people signed up
Country: United Kingdom
Postcode area: SW9 (view map)
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Kate Hoey presents herself as a good constituency MP, but she spends very little time repersenting us in Parliament (she has only voted in 56% of votes in the last Parliament).
She has just taken up the job as chairman of The Countryside Alliance. We would like to know why she has done it.
Keep tabs on what Kate Hoey is up to at http://www.katehoey.co.uk
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Current signatories (
= they've done it)
Richard Pope, the Pledge Creator, joined by:
- Hannah Williams
- Nicola
- Robin Grant
- Paivi Vahvelainen
- Sarah Harrop
- Geoff de Burca
- Sean Scullion
- Nick Taylor
- Nick Franklin
- Dave Rolph
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/news/397/...
What's more ironic Sean is that the only other government to ban hunting with dogs was Hitler's. Hitler too was fond of his "furry friends." Pity he didn't extend the same respect to his fellow humans.
No Dave, unfortunatley you won't see the splendid sight of man working in harmony with the environment to control vermin in a natural manner - Mr. Blair banned it to placate his spineless MPs after they voted to destroy human lives in Iraq. See any similarities here between Hitler's love of animals and disregard of human life...?
Of course, if there were some culling of foxes in Lambeth in a natural manner you would find that the urban foxes would be considerably healthier than they are at the moment - now that is a real animal welfare concern.
I made my first commment because I thought you were being a bit unfair on Kate Hoey; on the plus side she has "spoken in 11 debates in this Parliament — 94th out of 645 MPs" and "asked 55 written questions in this Parliament — 53rd out of 645 MPs."
http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/kate_ho...
I suspected, perhaps unfairly, that this pledge was directed more against the CA than Kate Hoey.
I don't know how an MP is supposed to vote according to the views of all of their 60,000+ constituents. Should they have daily referendums, what about those in the constituency who disagree with the majority? Who would be their MP under such a system? That is the truly dictatorial system: the "dictatorship of the majority."
I hope you didn't accuse me of being spineless Dave; that would have been rude, and unnecessary, as I wasn't rude to you. As you can probably guess from the third paragraph of my first comment, I support the right of people to live their lives as they and their consciences see fit, as long as they don't hurt others and as long as what they do (in an animal welfare context) is not demonstrably unnecessary. People like me have often been targeted by those who disagree with our beliefs, therefore I don't give my full name. Besides your accusation is feeble Dave; how do any of us know what the real names of other contributors are? Not that that should matter anyway, surely on here what a person says is more important than what his name happens to be.
I don't think it's reasonable to expect an MP to do nothing other than work for their constituents; that would make them a slave, not a representative. I do believe they have a right, and a duty to pursue activities and interests outside of constituency work - that should make them better as individuals, more rounded and more aware of the world around them and therefore better MPs.
You're right that the job of an MP isnt just to transcribe our views into parliament, we also elect them to make decisions on our behalf. But those decisions DO need to be of relivance to us. I'm not sure how chairmanship of the CA is. Especially when she spends so little time in parliament.
Although I'm very chuffed to see people both questioning and defending her actions.
The offer is still open for anyone who wants to help compile www.katehoey.co.uk : )
www.katehoey.co.uk
I think the Chairman of the CA is more of a figurehead for the public than someone who actually does anything; and Kate Hoey is certainly well known. So hopefully it should take up very little of her time. The majority of MPs' 'public' work should indeed be spent on the concerns of their constituents. I suppose I could justify her decision by saying that MPs vote on all issues, not just those of immediate concern to their constituents. Kate Hoey gave a brief explanation for taking the job on the link I've posed below.
It does seem a bit crummy that she doesn't have a website - but I suppose that saves on her expenses. Or you could volunteer to run it on her behalf...? ;)
Good luck with your efforts to make MPs more accountable.
Regards,
Phil
http://www.countryside-alliance.org/inde...
As far as I'm concerned if she can find the time to write for the Telegraph, one paragraph of which would probably pay for the website for a year, and chair the CA, she should be able to find the time to let us comment on her work.
Time will tell I guess.
Richard