Give us a vote

A statement from the office of the Westminster MP for Central Fife issued this morning said: 'In March 2007, (Mr MacDougall) underwent radical surgery as part of a medical trial in London, a procedure that held out hope of him being able to continue the job that he so enjoyed. Sadly, despite a considerable amount of therapy, Mr MacDougall enjoyed very little quality of life in the aftermath of his operation.'

It seems only death can now force any voting by the electorate onto this grotesque Brownian regime. Despite being clearly unfit for work for the last year and a half not only was the constituency of Central Fife represented by this close colleague of Gordon Brown, but he enjoyed positions on numerous local and regional bodies.

How many other Westminster Parliament constituencies are just ticking over, for whatever reason, because Brown dare not face a voting electorate?