Mswati III’s travel ban
He said he did not sign them be cause a lot of them were raised by lobbyists or groups keen to show themselves as doing something, yet without putting the actual work in to achieve a result.
“Many are also flippant or items that could have been better covered in a tweet, rather than a motion costing taxpayers about 0 E 200 to administer,´ he said.
He then made a few examples of early day motions whereby one MP wanted to congratulate his local football team on a win and another lawmaker wished good luck to the House 1ations com peting in the roller derby’s mens World &up.
He also made fun of an E'M they could not bebate, as it hinged on pigeon bombs which were to be used as flying bombs. Most of the 8K MPs lost interest in the E'Ms. )or all these reasons, MP &ourts said no Government spent civil service time acknowledging E'Ms, let alone responding to them.
He said they did not result in de bates in Parliament or changes to decisions. They are, for all intents and purposes, politically impo tent, the MP said.
“8nfortunately, signing an E'M is actually viewed as a la]y way to be seen to do something by many MPs,´ MP &ourts said.
CORRESPONDING
“6o, my position is this. If you want me to raise an issue, I will. But I will do the work, by corre sponding with you, speaking in a debate, asking a question writing to a minister, or speaking to a min ister.´
He added “If I want to put across an issue on behalf of a con stituent, something I am always happy to consider, I will write a letter, request a meeting or debate, submit a parliamentary question or speak to ministerial colleagues in the voting lobby of the House of &ommons. These are far more effective and direct ways of get ting things done.´
MP &ourts encouraged any MP who was promoting an E'M to work on submitting a request for a debate to the Backbench Business &ommittee.
The Backbench Business &om mittee gives opportunities to backbench members of Parlia ment to bring forward debates of their choice.
“This could actually result in a public debate on the issue in Par liament, with a minister required to respond to it. $s a former mem ber of that committee, I can assure everyone that a well supported request would be likely to receive a favourable hearing, although it would require slightly more effort for those involved than asking colleagues to sign an E'M for the reasons outlined above,´ the MP said.
MP Mary Robinson from &hea dle said she was often asked by constituents, usually through standard email and letter cam paigns, to E'Ms.
“/ike many MPs I do not sign E'Ms, but would like to reassure you that this does not mean I don’t take an interest in the issue, or that I won’t act on your behalf where possible,´ MP Robinson said.
6he said E'Ms were essentially petitions which were only signed by the MPs.
“While they served a purpose in an age where they were the only way to attract attention to a cause, they have been superseded in this respect by a number of methods such as social media and a wide ly read online press,´ she said.
SUCCESSFUL
“E petitions, which anyone can sign, have also in my view proven more successful than E'Ms have ever been as a way of bringing issues to the table. This has been proven on multiple occasions since the introduction of the e pe titions system, where issues have been raised and debated in Par liament that would otherwise not have been.´
6he, too, alluded to the fact that, not only did E'Ms appear to be outdated, but they were expensive too. The MP said the House of &ommons librarians told her that it cost on average E 420 2 1 to publish each E'M.
“I do not believe this is a good use of taxpayers’ money, given the myriad of ways available to bring issues to the forefront for free,´ MP Robinson said.
6he said she did not feel she would ever sign an E'M until there was a reform of the system.