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Conservative Revolution

Britain and the world’s oldest conservative think tank

Conservative Revolution

Britain and the world’s oldest conservative think tank

We Don’t Need Gender Quotas for MPs, We Need a Primary System so Local People Can Choose Their Party Candidates

May 2, 2022 | Broadcast Media, News | 0 comments

Bow Group Chairman Ben Harris-Quinney has said quotas for women in Parliament are antidemocratic and that instead, local people should be able to chose their party candidates in a system similar to the American primaries.

The Bow Group chairman made the remarks on GB News after Conservative Party chairman Oliver Dowden said that half of all Tory MPs elected to the House of Commons at the next election should be women. Dowden’s statement came in reaction to Conservative MP Neil Parish resigning after admitting to watching pornography in the House of Commons.

Ben Harris-Quinney said: “I don’t think that’s the answer. What the public want to see is MPs held to account by an independent body.

“But they also want a decision they can make. If they feel an MP has behaved inappropriately, they need to be the ultimate and final arbiter. We have right of recall which came into effect in 2015 and that’s good.”

Mr Harris-Quinney continued: “I don’t think there needs to be an antidemocratic system of saying we need 50 per cent women and 50 per cent men. I think we need a primary system, so local people decide on the candidates they want, whether that be a man or woman.

“I don’t believe in quotas and I don’t think democracy is about quotas. Democracy is about the local people having the final decision.”

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