June 9, 2008
When do early day motions count and when are they ignored?
When 35 Labour MPs signed up to an EDM criticising plans to raise fuel tax in the autumn it was seen as a massive threat to Gordon Brown’s authority.
Was it really?
When you look at the list of current EDMs - some more riveting than others - there are several, critical of the government, signed by hundreds of Labour backbenchers.
Friends of the Earth made a good point today as the Climate Change Bill was debated in the Commons. The pressure group said an EDM calling for the emissions reduction target to be fortified from 60 per cent to 80 per cent by 2050 has attracted 257 signatures, including 167 from Labour.
This is far more than those who signed EDMs criticising the abolition of the 10p tax rate, let alone the fuel tax change. Yet the government continues to fob off this tide of criticism with vague promises to review the emissions target (and the tangential issue of including aviation fumes.)
Interestingly, of the five most “signed” EDMs, four are on environmental issues (buildings’ energy performance, amphibian extinction, feed-in tariffs). Are party leaders - backpedalling rapidly on green policies - in tune with their own MPs?
I wonder if it is because the reporters who write about rebellions are those who spend all their time couped up in Parliament with MPs. The EDM Friends of the Earth have pointed out is one that has a lot of signatures on it because thousands of individuals all over the country have spent three years campaigning for a Climate Change Bill, and they have persuaded their MPs to sign it. Westminster reporters do not notice such “grass roots” campaigns building up, because there is no chance to chat with an MP in a bar to hear about them.
That is why many news reports have attributed the Climate Change Bill to David Cameron, who called for it a couple of months before the Government agreed to introduce it. I was delighted he did this - and he did it extremely effectively - but only local activists had persuaded around 400 MPs to support such a Bill.
Posted by: Sarah | June 10th, 2008 at 12:12 am | Report this commentJust wondered if you had noticed that not only did 167 Labour MPs sign an EDM on these points, but more than 80 have now signed two amendments to the Bill. Most of them can’t actually vote on it because they are not on the Committee currently looking at it - but surely it is a very big warning sign to Gordon Brown that more trouble is ahead if he doesn’t respond.
Posted by: Sarah | June 26th, 2008 at 12:03 am | Report this comment