But, again, it has to be universal — no local bigwigs who ‘own’ the town as the single largest local employer being in a position to exert more influence than their Parliamentary colleagues from other regions, thereby ensuring they can’t be removed, whilst they then machinate to foment unrest where another MP (who regularly votes against their motions) is from.

This is very difficult to design against.

I have this image of Unions in old mining towns telling people how to vote, but I don’t know whether that same concentration of influence still exists in many places. But that’s a problem in all elections, not just recall ones.

An official petition with enough signatures should be enough to trigger a by-election.

Maybe the solution is to have an odd number of MPs, so that there can never be an impasse.

People may abstain. Or it could be split 3 or 5 ways. Would bills require a certain number of votes to pass or would a simple majority of those present do? I’m inclined towards a threshold all legislation must pass.

Again … if we’ve done away with the partisan nature of the system have we not thereby already eliminated the need for a brake on an overrepresented and, therefore, overpowerful executive?

‎Maybe

If we have a second chamber though, how is it to be populated?

I was thinking local council representatives because maybe they have a slightly different focus, the boundaries don’t match constituencies exactly, so maybe that counters some of the influence of bigwigs to an extent. More people to bribe if someone wants to corrupt the process. Just a second eye, but maybe that’s an unnecessary expense.

The Lords have worked pretty well in practise, but I wouldn’t design the system that way. It feels more like a happy accident that, freed from democratic accountability, the peers exhibit a conscience and sense often missing from the Commons.

There has to be a way to keep it manageable … we just need to figure it out.

Yep, this is the homework.

Not keen on the quota system as I’m not sure there’s an appropriate measure that fits all constituencies.

I would rather have a barrier based on how serious the candidate is. Maybe they need to collect 500 signatures to stand, or something that requires a bit of commitment to actually running a campaign, or being an MP, which is probably quite hard work. It’s the chancers who just want some paid leave we need to discourage.