COLNE Valley’s MP has called for the £1m-a-year Parliamentary petition system to be scrapped
Jason McCartney is boycotting Early Day Motions (EDMs) – which are used by Members of Parliament to do everything from calling for better human rights in Burma to welcoming David Hasselhoff to Morecambe.
The Conservative MP has stopped signing the motions in protest at the cost of the system.
“People sign them and they don’t go anywhere,” he said. “Scrapping them would save £1m a year.”
Some 1,730 EDMs have been tabled since the current Parliament began last May. MPs sign the petitions to show their support for certain positions – but the motions do not trigger any action.
The most popular EDM, celebrating the traditional British pub, has been signed by 273 of the 650 MPs.
Other popular motions include support for the hunting ban, condemnation of Israel’s policy towards Gaza and a call for better human rights in Burma.
However, there are 49 EDMs signed only by the MP who started them – including a motion from Morecambe and Lunesdale Conservative MP David Morris calling on US President Barack Obama to visit his constituency.
Mr Morris also submitted an EDM congratulating former Baywatch star David Hasselhoff for visiting Morecambe. Two other MPs signed the motion.
Administering the EDM system cost taxpayers £1m in 2009/10 – with much of the cost going on printing and re-printing motions as each MP signs.
Mr McCartney said: “When a name is added, Parliamentary staff have to re-publish the EDM. It’s a very bureaucratic and wasteful process.”
Official figures show that printing and re-printing EDMs cost the taxpayer £776,000 in 2009/10. The system also cost £150,000 in officers’ time and around £87,000 in technical support, including IT.
Mr McCartney began boycotting EDMs shortly after he was elected to Parliament last year.
“I signed a few in my first months but, having talked to colleagues, I realised that the motions don’t go anywhere or trigger anything,” he said.
“I had thought that if you got a certain number of MPs to sign then something would happen – maybe if you got 100 names that would trigger a debate.
“But that’s not the case. They don’t go anywhere.”
Mr McCartney added: “Lobbyists like EDMs because it lets them look like they’re doing something.
“Some MPs sign anything that’s put in front of them. EDMs are no more than press releases.”
