Some MPs should be sacked, says bishop

The Bishop of Lichfield has responded to the expenses scandal by saying some MPs should be sacked.

He also defended the “vast majority” of “decent and honest MPs”, however, and warned against “bringing down the whole democratic system”.

The Rt Rev Jonathan Gledhill was among a number of West Midland bishops to issue a joint statement on Sunday, urging people to "vote wisely" in the forthcoming European elections.

“I've been absolutely scandalised by some of the stories of what is coming out; and I've felt like I don't want to vote either; or at least I don't know how to vote," said Bishop Gledhill.

“But then, when you step back a bit, you realise that the vast majority of MPs have not been fiddling their expenses and we must be careful not to bring down the whole democratic system.

"What's important is that it is not so much the system, it's the people. And some people just need to be sacked.

"But for the rest of us, we need to keep on exercising our vote so that we can insist that all the decent and honest MPs reform and clarify their expenses system.”

Bishop Gledhill acknowledged that even if it was difficult to know who to vote for, people should still use their vote and "use it to the best of our ability, otherwise the whole democratic system might be in danger".

He said: “There's one thing wrong with a democracy that isn't working very well; and that's no democracy at all. And if you think of the systems that we have had in the past, and they have had in other parts of the world when democracy has failed, it's actually even more important that we vote at this moment than usual."