I am being lobbied extensively at the moment about the right to recall, which would allow constituents to recall their elected representatives if a majority has, for whatever reason, lost confidence in them.

This could be triggered through a petition, or through some other mechanism.

Last year I backed amendments to the Localism Bill which would have introduced such a right, but these did not win sufficient support in the House of Commons to be included in the Bill.

Now the Government has brought forward its own proposals, giving a parliamentary committee the power to trigger a recall.

This completely misses the point - it has to be the electorate that holds that power.

I support proper participatory democracy and think that empowering local communities with a right to recall would be hugely beneficial.

So I will be doing all I can to ensure that any legislation actually upholds this basic principle and is not simply reform in name only.