WHEN we have Direct Democracy the following could become obselete, but in the meantime the above idea could prevent Mr Rabbitte's infuriating phrase "isn't that what you tend to do during elections" A party could spout a policy before an election, whereupon the interviewer would ask - is that a legally binding promise to the people. If they say yes, they could not renege on the said item, or coalesce with a party that would do so without recourse to the electorate.
Now if a party makes a promise at election time, they have entered into a binding contract with the people that cannot be broken before the next election, Overnight the blatant lies disappear, and the non binding promises can be taken for what they are - hot air. Parties would also have to take care not to alienate potential bedfellows. Hidden bonus - political programmes could be shortened by at least 50%!
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