IN THE light of the revelations made in the past few days on MPs expenses, I tried to register an online petition with the 10 Downing Street website, calling on Gordon Brown to call a General Election so that the people can have their say. Sadly, the p

IN THE light of the revelations made in the past few days on MPs expenses, I tried to register an 'online' petition with the 10 Downing Street website, calling on Gordon Brown to call a General Election so that the people can have their say. Sadly, the 'powers that be' refused to register the petition - I can't imagine why?

How those directly involved in the abuse of public funds, and those of their colleagues who are not prepared to condemn them, can look us in the face and blame it all on 'the system' beggars belief. Just how stupid do they think the electorate are? This scandal is not about a flawed system, it's about deeply flawed individuals. We elect MPs not just because of their political views, but also for their personal qualities. We are entitled to expect them to behave responsibly, and to exercise good judgment. None of them was forced to claim anything by way of expenses, they all chose to do so. The truth is that many of those claims were morally indefensible.

Let me make it plain that I am not suggesting that any of our local MPs will be implicated when all the details ultimately become available - although (allegedly) billing the taxpayer for horse manure would take a bit of explaining! Nevertheless, it seems to me that so many of our present MPs, and Government Ministers, are tainted by this scandal, that we must now have the opportunity to rid the House of Commons of all those who have disgraced themselves and their office. They have greatly damaged public confidence in the political process, and that damage cannot be repaired until they are thrown out of public life. How could we ever trust them again?

For the record, the petition that the Prime Minister's staff will not allow people to sign up to read as follows:

"We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to acknowledge that the electorate has clearly lost faith in the integrity of so many members of the present House of Commons (as a direct result of the scandalous abuse of MPs expenses), that it is now in the best interests of the nation, and the future of the political process in this country, for him to call a General Election without delay, and thus allow the people to pass judgement on our elected representatives".

KELVIN MACDONALD FRASER

Montpellier, Weston