SNP accused over flood of ‘trivial’ Commons motions
Party says it is making sure the voices of constituents are heard
EAGER SNP MPs are inundating the House of Commons with motions amid claims they are “trivial and narcissistic”.
Nationalist members have accounted for almost 44 per cent of all Early Day motions (EDMs) put down since the General Election last May.
The cost to the taxpayer of Nationalist MPs’ enthusiasm for EDMs so far in this Parliamentary session is at £165,000 based on the most recent estimated administrative cost for tabling a Parliamentary motion. If this rate continued, then the overall cost by the end of the five-year Parliament could, among SNP MPs alone, approach £1 million.
EDMs allow members to raise any subject matter they wish; many relate to local constituency issues. But they are rarely debated at Westminster. According to the Commons website the average cost of tabling one is £290, which is the most recent estimate; albeit one that dates back to 2005/6.
So far in this parliamentary session 1,328 EDMs have been tabled, costing the public purse, based on this most recent estimate, £385,000. The SNP’s group of 54 MPs – just eight per cent of Westminster’s 650 MPs – has been the prime sponsors of 578 of them. The Nationalist MP who has tabled the most, 56, is Paul Monaghan, the MP for Caithness, Sutherland and Easter Ross.
The issue of EDMs has proved controversial in the past, when, before online use became popular, costs were much higher due to an increased level of printing. In 2010, they cost £1 million a year.
In 2013, the Commons Procedure Committee published a report on EDMs and recommended no change, saying they continued to be “popular and remain a valuable tool for those MPs who use them”.
But some MPs believe them to be “trivial and narcissistic” and simply a means of congratulating local constituents.
Conservative backbencher, Sarah Wollaston, the MP for Totnes in Devon, who chairs the Commons health committee, has said they “cost a huge amount to administer each year and I do not think they are good value for money”.
Describing EDMs as effectively MPs’ petitions, she said they had now been superseded by No 10 e-petitions, which “can be signed by everyone”.
The subject matter of EDMs ranges from the serious to the not so serious. For example, SNP MPs have tabled motions about benefits sanctions, homelessness, the Syrian civil war and the EU referendum.
Among the latest from an SNP MP listed on the parliamentary website is one by Angus MacNeil, the Western Isles MP, who wrote: “That this House congratulates the Scottish Parliament for its eye-catching end to the session, prior to the May elections, with Parliamentarian and piper Stuart MacMillan piping the Parliamentarians from the chamber.”
An SNP spokeswoman defended her party’s frequent use of EDMs, saying: “Early Day Motions are just one of the many ways that the SNP’s MPs can ensure the voices of their constituents and local communities are heard loud and clear at Westminster.”