EUROPE: Do we need all politicians?

I get the impression that most people, like me, are fed up to the back teeth with the EU referendum.

There has been no debate, just a series of sound bites. It has been like one long schoolyard argument.

Every single point raised by both sides can be summarised by saying some aspects might be better, or they might be worse, or more likely than not, there will be no discernible difference whatever the outcome and things will stay much the same.

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I thought the whole point of a general election was that we voted for a government to make the difficult decisions on our behalf, but it appears today’s politicians and bureaucrats can no longer do this. If that is the case why do we need politicians?

Essentially, the argument boils down to the following. Do we want to pay a lot of money so that an unelected European Commission can make our laws and negotiate on our behalf, or do we want to do it ourselves?

If we agree to stay with the EU Commission, then why do we need 650 MPs in our own Government. Surely, it should be one or the other, not both? Just how many politicians and bureaucrats can we afford to support?

At one time, politicians were limited to local councils and Westminster. Then we had to have far more when we joined the European Union.

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Even that was not enough because then we had to have even more for devolved government in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Now we have Police and Crime Commissioners, elected mayors, regional development tzars – the list is endless.

Maybe the answer is to get rid of all the politicians, bureaucrats, civil servants, lobbyists and the like from the House of Commons and the House of Lords. We can then advertise the rooms in Westminster on AirB&B, and the fleet of ministerial cars on Ubertaxis. For the first time, Westminster could generate an income for the benefit of the electorate.

Still, at least it will soon be over and, despite the inevitable post-mortem, it cannot get any worse. Or can it? Now it’s wall-to-wall football with Euro 2016. Arrgh! To borrow part of the title of a TV programme – Get me outta hereeee!

Mel Shaw,

Wooler