EDMs and other matters.

Written by David Heath MP and published in Western Gazette on Thu 3rd Jun 2010

There are several things I am having to learn to do differently in this Parliament. I am determined that being a Minister is not going to make me any the less effective as a constituency Member of Parliament, but the way I go about making the interests of my constituents heard has had to change. Up until now, if somebody in Somerset came to me with a problem, then I would often take the opportunity of standing up in parliament and either making a speech or asking a question to a minister about it. Now I am a member of the government, I don't have that freedom. However, I can write or speak to a ministerial colleague about whatever the matter is, with a higher chance of success in changing minds, so I hope I will manage to pursue matters in a perhaps less high profile but just as effective a way.

Apart from not asking questions or making speeches other than in my ministerial capacity, I'm also not allowed to sign Early Day Motions, or EDMs as they are almost universally known. If there is one thing that has really pleased my office in Frome over recent weeks it is when I told them that. EDMs take up a huge amount of time, for, I'm afraid, very little benefit. In the average session of parliament some two thousand or more are tabled. Some are worthwhile in attracting attention to a key issue which might otherwise be overlooked, and the show of support which is shown by attracting signatures of members of all parties can prompt the government of the day to look anew at an issue. Indeed, one of the things I shall be looking at over the next year is whether there could be a mechanism to ensure that once an EDM has reached a particular threshold in terms of numbers of signatures it automatically triggers a debate in parliament.

Others are, I fear, a complete waste of time, other than demonstrating the individual MP's attachment to his or her constituency and giving somebody a warm feeling. Such EDMs are usually of the form, "This house congratulates Little Boghampton FC on their stupendous performance in coming third in the East Midlands Ladies Amateur Football League Fourth Division". It's hard to begrudge the ladies of Little Boghampton their moment of glory, but it's difficult to see why it should be the business of the House of Commons to assist in their celebrations.

But by far the commonest form of EDM are those which are a by-product of the lobbying industry. What happens is this. An MP who has expressed sympathy with a particular cause, say environmental concerns, or third world debt, or a medical condition or disease, is contacted by an organisation which has a special interest and encouraged to put down an EDM on the subject, text provided by the lobbyists. I should stress that there is nothing wrong or underhand about this; the EDM no doubt expresses noble sentiments with which the MP entirely agrees. He or she probably recruits a few other colleagues who have similar interests as co-signatories.

What happens next is that every MP is then contacted by the organisation to add their names. Again, no problem with that, although I sometimes get concerned when the request is accompanied by a barely concealed threat that failure to sign will result in one's name being included in "a list which will be circulated to our x million supporters". But the next stage is that each of those supporters is then contacted and encouraged to write to their own MP demanding that they sign up. A standard letter or card is provided. The more committed constituent takes the core message and adapts it to their own interests and, indeed, the record of their own MP. Others simply send on the draft letter in exactly the form they receive it. Least appreciated are those where the correspondent couldn't quite bring themselves to put in a name where it says "Insert name of your MP here". Somehow, it seems less personal!

This has become a burgeoning industry. When it is for an altruistic cause, it is hard to argue, although I think most of us would prefer a personal letter rather than a mass-produced write-in campaign which creates a huge amount of work for the constituency office in return for minimum effort on the part of the campaign organisers (and believe me, responding personally to several hundred letters or cards does take a lot of time). I do particularly worry though when the campaigns are generated by commercial interests such as drug companies, often trying to overturn a decision by NICE that their new wonder drug doesn't actually work, or at least is not value for money, by harnessing the legitimate concerns of patients or their families.

Anyway, to any of my constituents poised to write me a letter about an EDM, please remember I can't sign them while I am part of the government. By all means write about important issues, but if your test of whether I am genuinely interested in the matter is my signature on an EDM, I'm sorry to disappoint you.

I can't finish without saying a few words about my colleague and friend David Laws. I can think of few people better suited to the cabinet post he was appointed to, and he was by common consent doing a brilliant job. David is an intensely private person, and will be hating the intrusive reporting of his personal life, much of which is prurient and deeply unpleasant. Far from taking taxpayers money inappropriately, almost any other way he could have organised his affairs would have cost the taxpayer more, and people need to understand that. I hope he will continue to do the brilliant job he has done for the people of Yeovil for as long as they want him to do so.