First they were whipped to back Cameron's veto. Then they were whipped not to. More dither and muddle from the Liberal Democrats.

By Joseph Willits 
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At PMQs today, David Cameron was asked about the decision by all Liberal Democrat MPs to collectively defy a three-line whip, and abstain from voting on a motion defending Cameron's EU treay veto. Although Cameron didn't elaborate further on the Liberal Democrat position, he did express his gratitude to the Democratic Unionist Party (DUP), who had decided to table the motion due to the veto being in the "vital interest" of the British people.

Yesterday morning, Nick Clegg had said that Liberal Democrat MPs should vote in favour of the motion, but swiftly did a u-turn in the evening and ordered them to abstain. Only one Liberal Democrat MP, Martin Horwood (Cheltenham) spoke at the debate, saying the outcome of the Brussels summit was "not a good one". Horwood also attacked eurosceptic Tory MPs, saying: 

"The process is still a long way from complete and there are quite a few obstacles in its path, some of them sitting in this Chamber, I think."

Continue reading "First they were whipped to back Cameron's veto. Then they were whipped not to. More dither and muddle from the Liberal Democrats." »

Sir Peter Bottomley seeks a memorial service to the man who started the Parliament Square peace camp

By Jonathan Isaby
^{Follow Jonathan on Twitter}

Sir Peter Bottomley has a thing about Early Day Motions - the virtually never debated motions which are akin to petitions which MPs sign to make their feelings know about all kinds of issues.

Whilst some dismiss them as "parliamentary grafitti" and don't bother signing them and others do so very sparingly, the Worthing West MP often signs dozens a day.

In fact, he has already managed to sign 1,042 of the 1,995 EDMs tabled during this parliamentary session (sixth equal among all MPs in the House, with the next Tory in the list only having backed a mere 202).

He has only tabled 16 of his own EDMs, though, and these include EDM 1888 recommending that people read the Archbishop of Canterbury's writings (no one else has signed it) and EDM 1437 opposing the blanket ban on prisoners voting.

This week Sir Peter has tabled EDM 1946 marking the life of Brian Haw, the anti-war protester who died last weekend after spending most of the last decade living in a tent on Parliament Square - and attracting an increasing large number of others to settle there too.

Bottomley's motion notes "the range of views on Brian Haw's cause and his methods" and suggests "it could be appropriate for a memorial service in Westminster to mark his passing".

He goes on to express his hope that "to mark his life the unsightly camp of hangers-on in Parliament Square ends and a plaque be set in the pavement."

The motion has attracted one other signature - that of North Wilsthire Conservative MP, James Gray.

Andrew Rosindell seeks Commons memorial to Ian Gow, murdered by the IRA twenty years ago

By Tim Montgomerie

Conservative MP Andrew Rosindell is campaigning for a memorial for Ian Gow. He is urging MPs to sign the following Early Day Motion:

"That this House recalls with deep sorrow, this week 20 years ago, the cowardly murder of Ian Gow, the then hon. Member for Eastbourne, a former Minister of The Crown and Parliamentary Private Secretary to the then Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, when, in the early hours of 30 July 1990, a device planted by the Provisional IRA exploded beneath his car at the family home in Hankham, East Sussex, cruelly depriving the House of Commons of a man of integrity and one of its most principled, caring and generous parliamentarians, and the United Kingdom of a genuinely courageous politician, who was fearless in his defence of the nation; and resolves this day, to honour the memory of Ian Gow and to strive to uphold the love of country that this truly honourable Member dedicated his life to serving."

The following MPs have signed the EDM from all parties:

• Sir Stuart Bell
• Stephen Lloyd (the new LibDem MP for Ian Gow's old seat of Eastbourne)
• The Rt. Hon. Peter Lilley
• Sammy Wilson
• John Whittingdale O.B.E.
• Bob Russell
• Dr. Julian Lewis
• Peter Bottomley
• Simon Hughes
• Graham Brady
• James Gray

A wonderful initiative that, like Andrew's campaign for three Union flags to be flown over Parliament, deserves to succeed.

The text of Andrew's full 'Dear Colleague' letter from 30th July is pasted below:

"Dear Colleague
 
It is twenty years ago today, that our friend and colleague, Ian Gow, was cruelly murdered by the Provisional I.R.A.
 
Many of us remember that day with great sorrow.
 
Ian’s assassination was a horrific crime against a man of enormous integrity who was never afraid to stand firm for what he truly believed to be right.
 
His loss deprived the House of one of its finest parliamentarians and Ian paid the ultimate sacrifice for being true to his principles.
 
The late Ian Gow T.D. M.P. served as a Member of Parliament from 1974-1990, representing the Eastbourne constituency, having previously served in Her Majesty’s Armed Forces in Northern Ireland, Germany and Malaya. He was Parliamentary Private Secretary to Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher from 1979 to 1983, after which he became a Minister of the Crown until 1985.  He later became Chairman of the Conservative Backbench Northern Ireland Committee.
 
On the 30th July 1990, an explosive device was placed under his car parked outside his family home in Hankham, East Sussex.  He tragically died that day.
 
Earlier this week, I spoke on the floor of the House of Commons, to request that Mr. Speaker give consideration to allowing a permanent memorial in the House, in tribute to Ian Gow.
 
A shield already exists in the chamber of the House of Commons, above the main door in memory of the late Airey Neave, who died in similar circumstances to that of Ian, having also been targeted by terrorists.  Similar recognition for Ian would I believe, be an appropriate tribute.
 
Ian’s widow, Dame Jane Whiteley, has stated that she would be “delighted and very proud” if this idea were to become a reality.
 
I wondered if you would be kind enough to indicate whether you would be willing to add your name in support of this idea?
 
A simple e-mail from you or a note to me via my office in reply, would be most welcome.
 
Thank you for taking the time to read this message.
 
With kind regards.
 
Andrew Rosindell M.P.
Member of Parliament for Romford"

44 Tory MPs sign Early Day Motion opposing Coalition's timetable for AV vote

By Tim Montgomerie

Benedict Brogan has just blogged the details of Bernard Jenkin's Early Day Motion calling for the vote on AV to be decoupled from next year's Scottish and Welsh etc elections. Despite efforts of the Government Whips, 44 have signed at the time of blogging. It's an interesting list:

1. David Amess
2. Richard Bacon
3. Brian Binley
4. Peter Bone
5. Andrew Bridgen
6. Douglas Carswell
7. James Clappison
8. Geoffrey Clifton-Brown
9. Therese Coffey
10. Tracey Crouch
11. Glyn Davies
12. David Davis
13. Nadine Dorries
14. Michael Fallon
15. Mark Field
16. James Gray
17. Adam Holloway
18. Bernard Jenkin
19. Daniel Kawczynski
20. Greg Knight
21. Eleanor Laing
22. Edward Leigh
23. Julian Lewis
24. Peter Lilley
25. Ian Liddell-Grainger
26. Jack Lopresti
27. Stephen McPartland
28. Mark Menzies
29. Patrick Mercer
30. Stephen Mosley
31. David Nuttall
32. Richard Ottaway
33. Andrew Percy
34. Mark Reckless
35. John Redwood
36. Jacob Rees-Mogg
37. Sir Malcolm Rifkind
38. Laurence Robertson
39. Andrew Rosindell
40. Richard Shepherd
41. Bob Stewart
42. Graham Stuart
43. Robin Walker
44. John Whittingdale

Given that Labour and nationalist MPs are also ready to oppose the Cabinet's preferred date there is a real possibility of defeat for the Coalition when the Bill is presented to the Commons in September.

The full text of Bernard Jenkin's EDM is below:

DATE OF PROPOSED REFERENDUM ON AN ALTERNATIVE VOTING SYSTEM

That this House notes that in 2002 the Electoral Commission, following consultations on the holding of a possible referendum on the Euro on the same day as other elections on 1 May 2003, issued a statement making clear that referendums on fundamental issues of national importance should be considered in isolation and that they should not be held at the same time as devolved assembly or local government elections; further notes that in a recent report the House of Lords Constitution Committee recommended that there should be a presumption against holding referendums on the same day as elections;  recognises that this advice is in accordance with best constitutional practice in countries such as Switzerland, where referendums are more regularly held; believes that this constitutional practice should be observed unless there are very exceptional reasons for it to be set aside; is concerned at the  proposal to hold the referendum on whether to change the voting system on 5 May 2011, which is the same day as elections to the Scottish Parliament, the National Assembly for Wales and to local authorities in Northern Ireland, but only in parts of England; further believes that this proposal would allow other issues to cloud the referendum debate before the vote, would artificially inflate turnout in some parts of the country but not others, and that it may accordingly advantage one campaign at the expense of the other; proposes that any referendum on this issue should therefore be held on a different date; and looks forward to advice from the Electoral Commission on this matter which is consistent with its previous statements.

Bernard Jenkin tries to gather MPs' signatures on AV. The Whips try to stop him.

By Paul Goodman

Bernard Jenkin, the 1922 Committee's point-man on the AV referendum, is collecting signatures for an Early Day Motion.  The EDM apparently questions the proposed timing of the poll.  Jenkin's not been backward in coming forward on the matter: he recently explained why, in his view, there should be a turnout threshold when the vote's held, and why holding it on the same day as the Scottish and Welsh elections would distort the result.

So far, so unexceptional: EDMs are the lowest form of Parliamentary life, and one more doesn't usually make much difference to anything (even when it's right, as this one seems to be).  But I gather from a furious member of the new intake that this one has seriously disturbed the Whips - who are trying to get MPs who've signed the EDM to remove their signature before it's tabled.

Continue reading "Bernard Jenkin tries to gather MPs' signatures on AV. The Whips try to stop him." »

Four of the new Tory intake call for "reform or abolition" of Early Day Motions

By Jonathan Isaby

Early Day Motions are oft referred to as "parliamentary grafitti": they are effectively petitions which only MPs can sign and are often tabled with the sole intention of allowing an MP to issue a press release to their local paper beginning "Local campaigning MP Joe Bloggs has tabled a motion in Parliament demanding..." in the knowledge that few people will ever read it, let alone debate it.

And it has to be said that with each Parliamentary Session it does seem that more and more frivolous and pointless Early Day Motions are being tabled.

This has promoted four of the new Tory intake to call for them to be reformed or abolished.

Graham Evans, Nick de Bois, Steve Baker and Guy Opperman have made their point by way of an, er EDM - Number 432 in fact, which reads:

"That this House regrets the continuing decline in importance of Early Day Motions which have become a campaign tool for external organisations; notes the role of public affairs professionals in drafting Early Day Motions and encouraging members of the organisations they represent to send pro forma emails and postcards to hon. Members; further notes the huge volume of correspondence that this generates and the consequent office and postage costs incurred; believes that the organisations involved derive little benefit from Early Day Motions, which very rarely have any influence on policy; further believes that public affairs professionals are aware of the ineffectiveness of Early Day Motions, but continue to use them to attempt to justify their services; questions the value for money to the taxpayer of Early Day Motions of whatever origin; and calls for the system of Early Day Motions to be reformed or abolished."

However, Tory MP Julian Lewis has tabled the following amendment, deleteing all and inserting:

"recognises that Early Day Motions provide one of only a few methods of registering the views of large numbers of hon. Members, other than by votes in the House; believes that they enable hon. Members to generate support for worthwhile causes; consequently opposes their abolition; and accordingly advises hon. Members who do not wish to sign them simply to decline to do so."

I'm with Julian Lewis on this. The massive cross party support for the Save General Election Night campaign last year was able to be demonstrated by Tom Harris's EDM, for example, and they remain a way of enabling MPs to get their points of view about certain issues out in the public domain and I would not want to see them abolished.

That said, I accept that there is an argument for saying that MPs should have to attain a reasonable number of signatures before public money is spent printing the motion and that motions congratulating local sporting teams on victories and promotions really are a waste of said money.

Brian Binley MP wants review of smoking ban

Conservative MP Brian Binley has initiated an Early Day Motion calling for an inquiry into the effectiveness of the last government's smoking ban. The EDM "calls upon the Government to conduct a thorough review, supported by consultation with all parties and affected business sectors on the impact the smoking ban has had on public houses and private members clubs". It continues:

"Any review should consider a balanced and proportionate amendment to the legislation, which allows for segregated smoking rooms or areas within pubs, bars and clubs provided that effective smoke extraction systems of an authorised standard are installed, enabling smokers to be accommodated in comfort indoors without impacting on non smokers and staff whilst reducing intrusive noise to many who live close to such establishments, thus helping to safeguard the future of many in the licensed trade. And that any changes to the smoking ban legislation thereafter should be made on the basis of evidence, fairness, proportionality recognising the importance of such institutions to the nation’s social life and community wellbeing."

Mr Binley says that Labour ministers promised to review the ban three years after it came into force on 1st July 2007. That review does not appear to be forthcoming despite the fact that 2,000 pubs and clubs closed last year - in part, it is alleged, because of the smoking ban.

Mr Binley commented:

“Many pubs and clubs are finding it difficult dealing with the economic situation; the smoking ban has further impacted on many businesses and the trade is really struggling. I want to consider a balanced and proportionate amendment to the legislation, which allows for segregated smoking rooms or areas within pubs, bars and clubs provided that effective smoke extraction systems of an authorised standard are installed.”

Tim Montgomerie

> Related link: Why you should support the campaign to amend the smoking ban by Shane Frith

An update on the Save General Election Night campaign as the Commons motion on the issue is re-tabled

In October, the Labour MP Tom Harris tabled an early day motion - which was seconded by Eric Pickles - backing the campaign to Save General Election Night.

Despite it being tabled in the last few weeks of the 2008-2009 parliamentary session, 220 MPs signed the motion, making it one of the most supported EDMs of the session - an important sign of the broad cross-party consensus on the issue.

But since EDMs fall at the end of each session, it has been retabled and appears in this new session as EDM 334, but the text is the same:

SAVE GENERAL ELECTION NIGHT CAMPAIGN
That this House is concerned at reports that growing numbers of Returning Officers are considering postponing the counting of votes cast on the day of the General Election until the day after polling; believes that in the 21st century it would be a regressive move not to announce constituency results as early as possible; further believes that public confidence in the results could be undermined by delays in the counting of ballot papers and that fewer voters would be able to watch the results being announced if this were done on a Friday afternoon; and calls on local authorities throughout the United Kingdom to ensure that all ballot papers are counted immediately after the close of polls on General Election night, as has been the practice in previous General Elections.

83 MPs from across the Commons have already shown their support for it again, but as before, please lobby your MP to add their signature to the motion if they haven't already done so.

The Guardian reported earlier this week that the BBC was having to prepare an election "night" marathon running through until Friday afternoon because of the refusal of some Returning Officers to count on the night itself.

According to the Electoral Commission's survey of Returning Officers, as of last week 273 counts are confirmed to take place on Election Night with 53 constituencies currently planning on counting on the Friday. Crucially, 154 Returning Officers are saying they are undecided, which means they are hopefully still open to persuasion on a local level.

The campaign's Facebook group is still live and has nearly 6,000 members, so do join that if you haven't done already.

Jonathan Isaby

The Campaign to Save General Election Night is raised in the Commons again as a ComRes poll shows overwhelming backing from MPs and PPCs for overnight counts

The campaign to Save General Election Night gets a big boost today. After no fewer than 220 MPs signed the Early Day Motion on the matter in the last parliamentary session (making it the 20th most signed motion out of 2421), today I have news of polls of MPs and PPCs conducted by ComRes on the subject.

The latest ComRes parliamentary panel of 151 MPs found 90% in favour of counting as soon as possible after voting, with 91% of both Conservative and Labour MPs, and 82% of Lib Dems all taking that view. Click here to download the full table.

Meanwhile, a separate ComRes survey of Conservative MPs and PPCs in target seats found a total of 95% in favour of counting on the night.  Click here to download that table in full.

The matter was also raised on the floor of the Commons again today at the parliamentary backwater that is questions to the MP representing the Electoral Commission, who is Conservative MP, Gary Streeter. The Deputy Conservative Chief Whip, Andrew Robathan, was keen to discover the latest position of the Electoral Commission and the various local authorities around the country which are charged with running the counts.

The exchange is as below and Gary Streeter's defence of the Commission's refusal to take a view on the matter is less than impressive. He repeats the mantra being used to defend the switching of counts to Friday, ie that we need to be sure that the count is accurate and that voters have confidence in the result. Is anyone suggesting that overnight counts held at elections for decades have been inaccurate?! And will there not in fact be a number of voters who have less confidence in a result where the ballot papers have been snaffled away and stored overnight somewhere pending a Friday count?

Here's the exchange from this morning:

Continue reading "The Campaign to Save General Election Night is raised in the Commons again as a ComRes poll shows overwhelming backing from MPs and PPCs for overnight counts " »

John Gummer calls for changes to postal voting rules to help Save General Election Night

The Save General Election Night early day motion has now attracted 216 signatures from MPs of all parties in the Commons, which is a pretty impressive number: only 20 of the 2,569 other EDMS tabled this session have attracted more support.

Yesterday, former Cabinet minister John Gummer tabled an amendment to the main motion, laying the blame for the danger to General Election Night on the Government for the changes to postal voting rules it has brought in over recent years.

His amendment reads:

"in addition notes that the failure of the Government to put into position proper safeguards against the fraudulent use of postal votes; further notes that the rules regarding postal votes are the reason for the difficulties in counting votes in the traditional manner; and calls on the Government to change the arrangements for postal votes to make it possible for local authorities to complete their count on Thursday night."

Jonathan Isaby

The campaign to Save General Election Night reaches the Commons

It's been several weeks since I have done a proper update on the cross-party campaign to Save General Election Night and ensure that counts are conducted on the Thursday night immediately after polling, rather than on the Friday - a move for which a number of Returning Officers are now pushing.

The Facebook group now has over 5,000 supporters, but today marks an important milestone for the campaign with the publication of an Early Day Motion in the Commons demonstrating widespread cross-party support in Parliament for the campaign.

It has been tabled by Labour MP and blogger Tom Harris, one of the campaign's co-founders, and Conservative Party Chairman Eric Pickles - another early supporter - has co-sponsored the motion, as have a Liberal Democrat MP and the parliamentary leader of Plaid Cymru. In just a few hours yesterday, a total of 68 MPs from six parties had signed the motion and I pay tribute to and thank Tom for his work on this.

Early Day Motion 2033, which appears on today's order paper, reads as follows:

SAVE GENERAL ELECTION NIGHT

That this House is concerned at reports that growing numbers of Returning Officers are considering postponing the counting of votes cast on the day of the General Election until the day after polling; believes that in the 21st century it would be a regressive move not to announce constituency results as early as possible; further believes that public confidence in the results could be undermined by delays in the counting of ballot papers and that fewer voters would be able to watch the results being announced if this were done on a Friday afternoon; and calls on local authorities throughout the United Kingdom to ensure that all ballot papers are counted immediately after the close of polls on General Election night, as has been the practice in previous General Elections.

Click here to see the up-to-date list of signatories and please lobby your MP to add their signature to the motion if they haven't already done so!

5.30pm update: Commenting on the increasing number of signatories in favour of the campaign, Eric Pickles told ConservativeHome:

"It is clear that across the political spectrum there is support for maintaining the election count on Thursday nights.  The traditional Thursday night election coverage is possibly the only time that politics ignites the interest and imagination of the general public and it would be a retrograde step to sacrifice that.  This is an idea dreamt up by the bureaucrats and will mean fewer people follow the coverage of this vitally important General Election."

Thursday morning update: The tally of MPs backing the motion has now reached 126.

Jonathan Isaby

Jonathan Sheppard: Scrapping Early Day Motions would make democracy a little cheaper and a little more effective

Jonathan Sheppard is a former Conservative parliamentary candidate who is editor of ToryRadio.com. He has also just set up the website Scrap EDMs.

At the last local elections I threw my hat into the ring and fought a spirited campaign in a Labour held Division of Bassetlaw in Nottinghamshire. The thing that saddened me the most was the disenchantment so many people expressed with anyone involved in the political process. There was the underlying feeling that anyone involved in the political process, be they a councillor or MP must be on the take and corrupt.

I believe in Parliament. I believe most politicians get involved to make a difference although there can be disagreements about the end game. The expenses saga hurt, because MPs were forced to do something that with hindsight they really should have sorted out themselves. It doesn’t matter that what was going on was ‘within the rules’. The rules were wrong.

I then had a think about what other reforms could be introduced, but this time without being forced to, but because MPs wanted to show us the public, that they were capable of improving the political system.
Whilst there are undoubtedly many other issues that MPs should be concerned with, I chose one area where I thought MPs could agree to make a reform to make democracy a little cheaper and a little more effective. That area is the issue of Early Day Motions.

Early Day Motions are supposedly a method by which a backbench MP can raise an issue of concern in order to get publicity and influence Government. The objective is for the motion to be debated at the earliest possible opportunity (hence early day) and MPs encourage their colleagues to sign up to the various motions tabled.

Continue reading "Jonathan Sheppard: Scrapping Early Day Motions would make democracy a little cheaper and a little more effective" »

Daniel Kawczynski says Union flag should fly over international development projects

Shrewsbury & Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski has tabled an Early Day Motion this morning that I hope will be signed by members from across the House of Commons.

The EDM (which is not yet online) reads as follows:

"That this House is deeply disappointed and frustrated by the lack of reference to Britain, and in particular our country’s flag, in the branding used by the Department of International Development when working on development projects abroad; believes the current ‘DFID’ branding is meaningless and does not effectively convey the origins of the funding provided by British tax payers to those people that it is helping; considers the stripping of the British brand by DFID in order to stop the Department from being subsumed into foreign policy has gone too far; that Britain should instead follow the lead of other agencies across the world such as the United Nations, the European Union and United States Agency for International Development in clearly stating the origins of its aid; and calls on the Government to introduce a small Union Jack on all DFID branding overseas, sending a clear the message that our country is proud of those representing our nation and what they are doing."

This is an excellent idea. When countries like America and Great Britain are condemned as evil by rabble rousers, it is vital that people should see for themselves when we are making the effort to help them.

Tom Greeves

More than a hundred MPs want to see police report on Damian Green arrest

A over a hundred MPs from different parties have signed the following Early Day Motion (number 862), calling for a release of a report on the arrest of Shadow Immigration Minister Damian Green:

"JOHNSTON INQUIRY REPORT

24.02.2009

Jenkin, Bernard

That this House notes that the report of the inquiry conducted by Chief Constable Ian Johnston of the British Transport Police, and which was commissioned by the Metropolitan Police in December to review the arrest and investigation of the hon. Member for Ashford, has been withheld from public scrutiny and from Parliament despite the fact that parts of the report were released by the Metropolitan Police on 16 December 2008 and used in comments by Assistant Police Commissioner Bob Quick; and therefore calls on the Home Secretary to take appropriate measures to ensure that a copy of the report be placed in the Library without further delay."

Signatories include Menzies Campbell, Keith Vaz (who chairs the Home Affairs Select Committee) former Shadow Home Secretary David Davis and Clare Short.

This issue is not going away.

Peter Luff's call for automatic business rate relief for small businesses among recent Early Day Motions

Herewith some interesting recent early day motions.

Mid Worcestershire MP Peter Luff put down EDM 676 to call on the Government to make business rate relief for small businesses automatic:

"That this House notes with concern that business rate relief is not taken up by over half of those small businesses eligible to claim it; further notes that as a result small businesses are losing out on saving up to £2,500 yearly; further notes that across the country around £400 million earmarked for rate relief to be paid to small businesses is returned to the Treasury; and calls on the Government to support the Small Business Rate Relief (Automatic Payment) Bill."

Mr Luff is promoting this Bill, backed by the Federation of Small Businesses. It was presented to Parliament on 21 January (there was no debate). In 2007 the Welsh Assembly made such payments automatic in Wales. This seems like a thoroughly worthwhile move.

Romford MP and Shadow Home Affairs Minister Andrew Rosindell is fan of the EDM medium. Number 705, which he tabled, refers to British relations with the Maori people:

"That this House is proud to join the people of New Zealand in celebrating Waitangi Day, their national day, on 6 February 2009, commemorating the historic signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, that marks the coming together of the Maori people and representatives of the British Crown; notes the importance of maintaining strong links between the United Kingdom and New Zealand; recognises the strong historic bond and shared heritage, longstanding trading relationships and deeply intertwined cultural, educational and military ties between the peoples of these two great allies and Commonwealth members who share Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II as Head of State and Sovereign; and urges the Government to continue to foster and strengthen the special relationship that binds these two nations together."

Continue reading "Peter Luff's call for automatic business rate relief for small businesses among recent Early Day Motions " »