Cummins urges Senate support for floor-crossing bill to protect voter trust

The Senate on Friday took up the proposed constitutional amendments designed to prevent Members of Parliament from defecting after elections, with lawmakers being told that the bill was crucial to preserving public trust and the integrity of the democratic system.

It was now the upper chamber’s turn to debate the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, which passed the lower House of Assembly earlier this week.

Introducing the amendment, Leader of Government Business in the Senate, Senator Lisa Cummins, said that while the bill specifically targets the elected House, its implications are a vital test of how the two chambers of Parliament interact.

She noted that although the Senate is an appointed body, its composition is often shaped by the shifting alliances in the House of Assembly.

“This piece of legislation doesn’t apply in this chamber because we are not elected,” Senator Cummins said. “No one has elected anyone in this honourable chamber as their representative, but we are here by virtue of the actions taken by those who they do elect. So this is perhaps one of the best tests of the way in which two houses of Parliament interact with each other.”

The debate served as a retrospective on the political turbulence following the 2018 and 2022 general elections, in which the Barbados Labour Party (BLP) achieved clean sweeps of all 30 seats. Senator Cummins used the opportunity to criticise those who, in her view, used the “vacuum” of an opposition-less Parliament to switch sides without consulting their constituents. She referred specifically to the 2018 instance where a member crossed the floor to provide a “voice” for the opposition, despite being elected under the BLP banner.

Senator Cummins drew a sharp contrast between private employment standards and public service, arguing that elected officials often show less professional courtesy than the average worker. She challenged the moral authority of those who defect without notice.

“If you get into work late, you just call your boss,” Senator Cummins argued. “If you’re resigning, just give notice. You have a notice period and you say, look, I can’t work here anymore. That is standard custom and practice. But a man who was elected by the people chose to have absolutely no respect or regard for the people who voted for him, for the people who nominated him. The people who put money in his campaign… not a peep.”

Central to her argument was the 2024 defection of Ralph Thorne, who left the government benches to become the Leader of the Opposition. Senator Cummins described the move as “sheer disrespect” to the voters of Christ Church South, questioning who truly represented those citizens during the transition period.

The senator argued that the current system allows representatives to “wreak havoc” from within their own houses after being embraced by new political entities.

She maintained that while the Constitution guarantees the right of association, that right should not be exercised “without consequence” when one holds a mandate from the electorate.

She questioned the status of constituency offices that remained closed for years following such defections, leaving “box captains” and workers without leadership.

“What happened to democracy where the people of the constituency that they were elected by ceased to have active representation?” Senator Cummins asked the chamber. “The ability to disassociate your presence in the other place from the engagement of a political party is impossible. A political party is by definition a mass-based institution. It is built on people.”
(RR)