RADICAL proposals to scrap all MPs by the local Labour party have been dismissed by central government – to little surprise.
Council leader Chris Shaw unveiled his idea to scrap the country's 650 MPs and replace them with local council leaders to Communities Secretary Eric Pickles.
While Mr Pickles thanked Councillor Shaw for his ideas on how to cut public spending, he told him it "wouldn't allow for proper accountability" if approved.
After the meeting, Mr Shaw told the Grimsby Telegraph: "He took all our cost saving measures on board but he doesn't like the idea of getting rid of MPs – I can't understand why.
"We thought it would save a lot of money but obviously Mr Pickles doesn't agree.
"At least we made our voices heard."
Mr Shaw calculates his plan could save the country £1.5 billion. It has sparked wide debate among readers on www.thisisgrimsby.co.uk
Williampink wrote: "We need a new way of running our country. We have a government no one voted for, a head of state no one voted for and a house of lords no one voted for. We have central government, albeit telling local governments how to run their councils.
"At least Mr Shaw has put his toe in the water. Is what we have called democracy? I don't think so."
MrObjective said: "A load of nonsense ... not least because £1.5bn is a drop in the ocean, it's not even one per cent of the annual interest on the national debt! It would cost many more billions to implement a change on such a massive scale. If he is seriously going to suggest this to Ministers, they are going to laugh him out of town!"
Mr Shaw's idea would scrap the House Of Lords and replaced it with an English Assembly of elected upper house of 100 representatives from the regions and local issues would be dealt with by local council leaders in a separate chamber.
He added: "We were going to the meeting anyway so it didn't cost us any extra, although it cost us in time getting the facts and figures together. Now we just have to wait for a response – that's going to be amusing – perhaps I should ask our two MPs to take it up with him."
