A BIG shake-up in the honours system was called for today by Colne Valley Labour MP Kali Mountford.
She blasted the present system as "archaic, unfair and ridiculously secretive".
Many people with long records of unpaid charity work never got anything, the MP said.
Others, such as well-known and highly-paid celebrities, were honoured for merely doing their job, added Ms Mountford.
She said: "The whole thing should be taken out of the hands of civil servants and a committee which is answerable to nobody.
"It should be given to a cross-party committee of MPs, accountable to Parliament for their decisions.
"This would create a credible system, much more acceptable to the public.
"It would also ensure that really deserving people doing voluntary work are honoured."
Ms Mountford said she had supported a number of local nominations for honours, based invariably on enormous voluntary work.
"Most of them have not been honoured yet," said Ms Mountford.
"Because of the secrecy, I've no way of knowing whether they might get one."
