MPs who break Commons rules or misbehave could be unseated by their constituents more easily under plans being considered in the Cabinet in the wake of the Owen Paterson sleaze row.

       Ministers have promised to consult other parties on standards reform before bringing any plans before Parliament following a U-turn on a Tory-led committee to introduce an appeals process.

       But The Telegraph understands some ministers have already expressed support for plans to inject more democracy into the process of disciplining MPs.

       One idea under discussion is to resurrect a system proposed in 2014 by Lord Goldsmith, which would have reduced the threshold of signatures required to begin the process of unseating an MP to just five per cent of constituents.

       Five per cent of constituents in an average English constituency is 3,600. Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish constituencies are smaller on average.

       It would also have removed the requirement for MPs to have been sanctioned by the Commons standards committee or to have broken the law before the process could begin.

       Three recall petitions have been triggered since the current system was created in 2015, resulting in two MPs – Fiona Onasanya and Chris Davies – losing their seats. A third petition to recall the DUP MP Ian Paisley in 2018 did not reach the required threshold of constituents for a by-election to be held.

       Some in the Government believe allowing constituents to trigger a recall would make the system more accountable than following the recommendations of Kathryn Stone, the parliamentary standards commissioner.

       A government source said: "All these bureaucrats, whether it's the commissioner or an adviser on the ministerial code, are quite unaccountable. We want to find a way to make our MPs more accountable to our voters again.

       "That's the better way to restore trust, because I don't think another functionary who is there to provide impartial advice over an appointment or what an MP does is anywhere near as good as being able to vote someone out."

       On Monday Kwasi Kwarteng, the Business Secretary, apologised for comments made at the height of the row over Mr Paterson's lobbying in which he suggested Ms Stone should consider her position.

       "Having seen how my remarks have been interpreted, and reflecting on them, I recognise that in answering the question that was posed to me I should have chosen my words more carefully," he wrote. "I did not mean to express doubt about your ability to discharge your role and I apologise for any upset or distress my choice of words may have caused."

       Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour leader, on Monday said his party supported banning MPs from holding paid directorships or consultancies as part of the standards reform. The idea will be tested at a vote in Parliament on Wednesday.

       "It is for every MP to decide how they want to vote on that," he said. "That will perhaps be a measure of where people are on how we actually move this forward."

       Backroom talks between the parties on an appeals process for MPs have already begun, a senior government source said.