Early-day Motions

Lord Evans of Rainow Excerpts

Monday 6th February 2012 Commons Chamber

[Graham Evans (Weaver Vale) (Con)]

I am delighted to have secured this Adjournment debate. Indeed, Adjournment debates are a useful opportunity for us Back Benchers to raise issues that might otherwise not be discussed. The quality of speeches and debates that we have heard on a wide range of fascinating topics in all the many Adjournment debates since the election has really showed that this is an excellent tradition that should be maintained. However, this evening I am here to talk about another parliamentary tradition that is of considerably less worth—early-day motions.

Nearly 3,000 early-day motions have so far been tabled in this Parliament. It is estimated that they cost the taxpayer around £1 million every year. Given that the spending review has looked carefully at every aspect of our public expenditure, it is only right that we take time to reflect on the cost-effectiveness and value of early-day motions. We should ask ourselves whether it is value for money to spend so much taxpayers’ money on a mechanism that has no legislative effect and rarely has any influence whatever. We should consider whether a mechanism that does not ensure a parliamentary debate on a subject, no matter how many Members sign a motion, is an effective mechanism for Back Benchers to raise important issues.

[Robert Halfon (Harlow) (Con)]

An answer to my hon. Friend’s suggestion might be for all early-day motions to be published only on the internet, rather than on the Order Paper, which would save a fortune. Would it not be better to call early-day motions “The Book of MP Petitions”, because that is what they are in essence? That does not negate the fact that they are useful instruments for campaigning.

[Graham Evans]

I shall mention saving costs on printing by publishing online later in my speech, but my hon. Friend makes a good suggestion on how we should reform early-day motions and what we should call them, which should be considered along with other things.

We should think about the future role of such a mechanism now that the Backbench Business Committee has been successfully established. The truth is that early-day motions have been devalued by the sheer volume that have been tabled—nearly 3,000 were tabled during the last year. Early-day motions have been devalued by the utter ridiculousness of many of them. There are motions congratulating football teams on promotion; motions congratulating two celebrities on their engagement; motions arguing about the origins of Robin Hood; motions suggesting a common hash tag to be used by MPs on Twitter; motions praising Ann Widdecombe’s dancing ability; and even a motion expressing support for an asteroid wiping out the entire human race.

[James Wharton (Stockton South) (Con)]

As my hon. Friend is eloquently setting out, does not the sheer quantity of early-day motions on such a range of topics, which are often rather inconsequential, undermine the function that they were designed to serve?

--- Later in debate ---

[Graham Evans]

I wholeheartedly agree with my hon. Friend. The cost to the House, including in time, means that it is time to consider reform.

[Simon Hart (Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire) (Con)]

Does my hon. Friend also agree that pressure groups and individuals believe that early-day motions have value, and are therefore disappointed when they discover, despite their best efforts, that they come to nothing?

[Graham Evans]

I absolutely agree with my hon. Friend. Many organisations such as charities employ lobbyists, and early-day motions are often used to justify their existence. I shall come to that shortly.

[Paul Flynn (Newport West) (Lab)]

Will the hon. Gentleman give way?

[Graham Evans]

I will give way to my hon. Friend.

[Paul Flynn]

I am grateful, and I welcome our new friendship.

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that it is now forbidden in the House to read out the names of the fallen in Iraq or Afghanistan? The only way that the House can confront the results of its own decisions—by reading those names—is through early-day motions. He might have seen 24 early-day motions that record the names of those who have fallen in Afghanistan. What would he do to change the system so that he does not block the only way in which the House can record its respect and gratitude to those who have fallen in battle?

[Graham Evans]

Other mechanisms can be used to pay respects in the House. For example, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition pay their respects at the beginning of every Prime Minister’s questions.

The reputation of the House is damaged even further by the mountains of early-day motions that are drafted by lobby firms who use them as little more than a tool to justify their services to naive clients. Plenty of willing Members are more than happy to oblige and table such motions on behalf of lobbyists. All hon. Members know that to be true, because we get bombarded by the same pro forma requests from lobbyists to table this or that early-day motion.

[Andrew Bingham (High Peak) (Con)]

We are besieged by e-mails from our constituents asking us to sign early-day motions that we know are of little consequence because of the volume of them. We have to send a letter disappointing our constituents because they are led to believe that early-day motions will change the world, whereas we know that they will not.

[Graham Evans]

My hon. Friend raises another good point: the sheer volume of early-day motions means that many constituents do not get the outcomes they seek.

We need to be totally frank about this. We have lobbyists trying to convince their clients that they are being very influential and making progress on their issue by getting an early-day motion tabled with lots of signatures. We have Members who want to convince constituents that they really care about a particular issue and have even taken the important-sounding step of tabling or signing an early-day motion. And we have local journalists who, desperate for copy, use the press release from the Member bragging about how they are backing an early-day motion. The cycle repeats, but nothing actually gets achieved.

[Jason McCartney (Colne Valley) (Con)]

Like my hon. Friend I was inspired to give up signing early-day motions in August 2010 and the world has not stopped turning. He proposes some good ideas to take matters forward. For example, my hon. Friend the Member for Wycombe (Steve Baker) and I went to the Backbench Business Committee and got a debate on Kashmir, which was a much better way to raise that issue than just tabling an early-day motion. I like the way in which my hon. Friend the Member for Weaver Vale (Graham Evans) is coming forward with alternative ideas.

[Graham Evans]

My hon. Friend raises the point that there are now other mechanisms. The Backbench Business Committee is one and Westminster Hall debates, in which Ministers are held to account and have to give answers, are another. There are new avenues for Back Benchers now.

It is this frustration that led me to table my own, admittedly tongue-in-cheek, early-day motion 432, calling for early-day motions to be reformed or abolished. I believe that the other 44 Members who have kindly signed my early-day motion share my frustration—

[Steve Baker (Wycombe) (Con)]

If I signed early-day motions, I would have signed my hon. Friend’s early-day motion.

[Graham Evans]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend.

As I was saying, the signatories include Members from both sides of the House, with several senior Members and former Cabinet Ministers and, astoundingly, my hon. Friend the Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley). When I first discovered he had signed my early-day motion, I wondered whether it was perhaps by accident—

[Sir Peter Bottomley (Worthing West) (Con)]

I acknowledge that I have signed a number of early-day motions—[Laughter.] I think we should consider the issue along with parliamentary questions. Questions take up more space in Hansard than early-day motions do, and most of them are pretty useless. Of the early-day motions that I have signed, one helped to get Krishna Maharaj off death row in Florida, and another helped to get cervical cancer vaccinations to include genital warts, which will save 125,000 people a year from having an unpleasant, antisocial disease. So there are purposes that can be met by early-day motions, but I am enjoying my hon. Friend’s speech.

[Graham Evans]

I am most grateful for that intervention.

There is considerable and growing support from colleagues from both sides of this House for this issue to be looked at. Personally, I am very much open to debate on whether we simply abolish or dramatically reform early-day motions. I have had a number of conversations with colleagues and the staff of the Table Office and there are plenty of ideas floating around about how early-day motions can be improved. They must be made more cost-effective, but we could also look at limiting the number that an individual Member can table and sign in a single Parliament and perhaps guarantee that the few early-day motions with the most support are guaranteed to be debated.

[Sir Bob Russell (Colchester) (LD)]

Following the hon. Gentleman’s theme, would he also put a limit on the number of parliamentary questions an MP could table?

[Graham Evans]

I am not sure what the answer is to that question. Perhaps we could discuss it over a cup of tea in the Tea Room later.

It might be possible to formalise the mechanism of early-day motions within the framework of the Backbench Business Committee. The hon. Member for Nottingham North (Mr Allen) has suggested that Members should be able to add their name to only one early-day motion each week, with the most popular one being debated the following week. The remaining early-day motions would then fall off the agenda. That way, Members would be forced to think very carefully about which early-day motion to back, rather than mindlessly tabling and signing dozens at a time. Members would be most unlikely to want to waste their single early-day motion on something daft or a pro forma drafted by lobbyists.

As I mentioned, the current cost of EDMs could also be slashed dramatically. Last year, printing costs alone accounted for £776,000. On top of that, substantial staffing costs add up to more than £1 million a year. There is no need to print multiple copies of every EDM each sitting day. EDMs could be kept largely electronic, with paper lists printed only on request. That is nothing complicated, only common sense to help save the taxpayer substantial sums over the course of a Parliament.

I hope that I have set out a clear case why EDMs are unsustainable in their current form and how we might go about reforming them. I also hope that this debate will help inform constituents about the reality of EDMs. Perhaps many charities and businesses that spend millions hiring lobbyists will listen to tonight’s debate and be more sceptical when public affairs consultants try to convince them of their effectiveness by getting an EDM tabled. Most of all, I hope that members of the Procedure Committee are listening carefully and realise how much support there is for change. I urge them to consider EDMs carefully and begin the process of reform as soon as possible. If we get it right, we can improve Back-Bench Members’ ability to raise topical issues, get better value for taxpayers’ money and restore faith in the House. There is no better time than the present.