Political system needs to change

MPs should be trustworthy, honest, have integrity and work hard for the benefit of the country. I want a leader who is genuinely putting themselves forward in the belief that they will lead a government whose policies will benefit those that live here. A government that does not favour one part of society over another.

I am not looking for charisma, they can be dull.

Members of Parliament should feel privileged that they have been chosen to represent those that have put them there.

The vast majority of those employed throughout the country work tirelessly for 40 hours or more (plumbers, nurses, care workers, refuge collectors, etc) and yet these people very often don’t even come anywhere near earning half of the annual £82,000 that an MP is paid.

In addition to this, MPs enjoy generous expense allowances. Many of these allowances are reasonable, but also there are those that are unreasonable and taken advantage of.

We should all feel grateful that we are still a democracy.

What has been going on recently has made me feel quite dispirited.

To have what appears to be a clone of Donald Trump as our leader, constantly telling us things that he knows and we know not to be true totally demeans the high office of Prime Minister.

The entire system needs a radical reboot.

We need our representatives to be entirely focussed on the one job that they are paid to do.

Surely if the salary was increased to say £120,000, we could attract high calibre people with good intentions who have the qualities of hard work, honesty and integrity.

Democracy is in danger though from the vicious comments that now get posted on social media.

There are people out there I am sure that meet the necessary criteria but are deterred.

Do they want to subject their families and themselves to such abuse, when they are making decisions which they believe are right?

This isn’t just for MPs, it goes right down to parish councillors.

We cannot have our cake and eat it.

Society needs to take care and protect our precious democracy by acting responsibly.

Graham Sutherland