Thread by @AndrewPRLevi

Open Letter to MPs on the Government Benches

Dear MPs,

Some thoughts about sewage, credibility & integrity.

92 of your Conservative colleagues didn’t follow the government whip in voting down the Lords amendment on sewage in water.

If you did, that was your choice. /1.

But be aware: many people are angry with you. They don’t like the way you voted. That’s their choice.

By all means try to explain your vote. You’re on very shaky ground, in my opinion. And that of 92 of your Party colleagues. But have a go. If you want. /2.

Please, though, do not exploit the alleged terrorist assassination of one of your respected colleagues to attempt to shut down polite, robust, or even angry, opposition to your vote on raw sewage dumping.

Or any other vote, for that matter.

Have some self-respect. /3.

And respect for people who, whether you think them well-informed or otherwise, are frustrated, or perhaps dismayed, by decisions in which you are participating in Parliament.

Not just on sewage. /4.

The safety of all MPs is a matter of the highest concern for us all.

Sparing you embarrassment when members of the public, in their wisdom, disagree with your policy positions & voting record, absolutely isn’t.

Nor should it be.

In a properly functioning democracy. /5.

You do your office, the institution of Parliament & all voters a disservice by seeking to undermine or shut down criticism. Or appearing to.

Even more so when you entirely inappropriately exploit tragedy & grief for such a self-serving purpose. /6.

Not least because you destroy your own credibility. As democrats. As leaders. As people of integrity.

That hurts us all.

The public have a right to expect far, far better of you. And, for the most part, they still do.

Don’t disappoint them.

Best regards. /7. End