Conservative MP for Southend West David Amess has accused the government of making “ornaments” of MPs, and “not particularly attractive ornaments at that.”
During the debate on the Queen’s Speech yesterday, Mr Amess attacked the Government for taking power away from MPs in the House of Commons.
Speaking in response to the proposal for a constitutional reform bill, Mr Amess said: “We have a Government who are purporting to rebuild trust in our democracy, but they are precisely the same Government who have brought trust in our system to an historic low.
“It is as if they have not been in power for the past 12 years. Our country has undoubtedly become too centralised and, under this Government, Parliament’s power has been severely weakened.
“It would have been good to have a proposal in the Gracious Speech to ditch the quangos as a priority and return accountability to Ministers. Hon. Members are fooling themselves if they do not consider why fewer and fewer people are interested in Parliament.
“It is because Members of Parliament are now ornaments, and not particularly attractive ornaments at that. We’ve lost so much power. Ministers have lost all their powers and given it away to the 790 quangos that we have at the moment, which employ just over 92,500 staff, with total expenditure at nearly ÂŁ43 billion.
“A tenth of public spending goes on those quangos. Indeed, the figure is probably even higher. There probably are 1,000 quangos, depending on how we define them, and they cost the taxpayer probably as much as £60 billion.
“Sixty-eight quango bosses earn more than the Prime Minister, yet quangos face neither the ballot box nor systematic inspection. They are governed by boards that are totally unaccountable to the electorate.”
Steve Webb, Liberal Democrat MP for Northavon, interjected: “The hon. Gentleman makes an interesting point about the role of quangos, but he will recall from “Yes Minister” and the like in the 1980s, which were based on inside knowledge, that people could become the chair of the “Whitefish Authority”, or whatever it was.
“Does he not accept that quangoisation has been happening for decades and is not just a new Labour phenomenon?”
Mr Amess replied: “I am sure that there is an element of truth in what the hon. Gentleman says, but the role of quangos has grown out of control, to the point where this House is greatly diminished.
“Councillors have accountability, which is provided by direct elections every four years. Quangos have no such accountability. The law requires council decision-making meetings to be open to the public, with papers available to the press and public in advance.
“There is no requirement on many of the quangos for such scrutiny, yet they have much more power in real terms. There is no doubt that quangos have systematically taken power away from local communities and locally elected representatives.
“I would have hoped that we could have a measure on that in the Gracious Speech. For people to have trust in our democracy, they need to be assured that elected representatives, whether national or local, have the power to act on their behalf, but we do not. Decision making and taxpayers’ money should not be monopolised by a growing group of unelected bureaucrats.”
