Deputy PM calls for amendment to new legislation over powers to decide whether badly behaved colleagues will face byelection

Nick Clegg has signalled he would like to change the government’s recall bill to stop MPs being “judge and jury” over their colleagues in the case of serious wrongdoing.

In a significant move, the deputy prime minister said the legislation needed strengthening because, at the moment, MPs would get to decide whether a badly behaved colleague should face a byelection.

The bill was drawn up by Clegg’s department, the Cabinet Office, but it has been criticised by backbenchers for effectively allowing MPs to have the final decision about whether their fellow parliamentarian should face a public vote.

Zac Goldsmith, the Tory MP for Richmond Park, and Douglas Carswell, the Ukip MP for Clacton, have been pushing for the electorate to decide whether an MP should be “recalled” in the event of serious wrongdoing. Goldsmith would like 5% of voters to serve notice on an MP demanding recall, and then the signatures of 20% of voters would subsequently be required to trigger a byelection.

The current bill only allows an automatic recall petition for a new election to be started if an MP has been given a custodial sentence of up to 12 months, or if the Commons votes that an MP has been engaged in “serious wrongdoing” requiring them to be suspended for 21 days. A custodial sentence of more than 12 months would automatically disqualify a MP from parliament.

Speaking at his monthly press conference, Clegg criticised Goldsmith for his “pious” proposals, pointing out the Conservative backbencher voted against reform of the House of Lords.

He said allowing the electorate to trigger a referendum on sacking an MP could lead to an elected representative being ousted on the basis of holding views on controversial issues such as gay marriage, abortion or fox hunting.

“It’s not the people’s recall. It’s the rich man’s recall if you look at the detail. It basically would give a field day to very well-funded vested interests,” he said.

However, Clegg conceded the current bill could do with some further work when it goes through its committee stage, potentially with lay members of the Commons standards committee getting to decide whether an MP has been guilty of serious wrongdoing. “Where I think we need further strengthening of this legislation … is in the following particular area, because I think people are understandably uneasy about provisions in the bill which appear, however well-intentioned, to kind of make MPs both judge and jury in the decision about whether serious wrongdoing has been committed,” he said.

The Liberal Democrat leader said he had a team looking at whether there could be a bigger role for “non-politicians in the standards committee” with voting rights, or “another body out of the hands of MPs” in deciding what constitutes serious wrongdoing.

Clegg spoke out as MPs prepare to debate the recall bill on Tuesday, with many backbenchers fearing it will look to voters like a stitch-up that preserves the right of MPs to “mark their own homework”.

The deputy PM also claimed it was the Conservatives who had consistently blocked the idea of a recall bill until Cameron changed his mind “out of the blue” before the Queen’s speech in May.

Last week, Cameron also hinted he could be prepared to strengthen the bill, saying its current form was the “minimum acceptable” to deal with the issue of recall.

“I will look very carefully at all amendments that come forward because, frankly, in getting this bill together we have come up with the minimum acceptable for recall, but I think there are a lot of very good arguments to be had about how we can go further.”