The EDM
The humble Early Day Motion (EDM) is often described as the graffiti at the back of the Order Paper. To most campiagn organisations little else seems to matter. So who is right?
Early day motions (EDMs) are formal motions submitted for debate in the House of Commons. However, very few EDMs are actually debated. Instead, they are used for reasons such as publicising the views of individual MPs, drawing attention to specific events or campaigns, and demonstrating the extent of parliamentary support for a particular cause or point of view.
Why bother?
Although there is very little prospect of EDMs being debated, many attract a great deal of public interest and frequently receive media coverage.
Format
EDMs have a strict format. Each one has a short title, like 'Internet Gambling', and a sentence no longer than 250 words detailing the motion.
Rules
Other than following the above format, EDMs must abide by certain rules about their subject matter. The main ones are:
EDMs may only criticise other MPs, Lords, judges or members of the royal family if that is the main subject of the motion
no reference should be made to matters before the courts
no unparliamentary language or irony should be used
titles must be purely descriptive
Types of EDMs
EDMs against statutory instruments - generally the only type of EDM that leads to a debate.
Internal party groups - put forward by party members to express a different view on an issue to the official party position.
All-party EDMs - usually promote an issue, such as animal welfare, across party divides. Generally, only all-party EDMs attract a large number of signatures.
Critical - occasionally EDMs are tabled criticising another Member of the House, or a member of the House of Lords.
Promotion - of an outside campaign or report (often by the voluntary sector).
Constituency issue - drawing attention to and commenting on.
Commenting on deficiencies in other parties' policies - often by government MPs as they can't criticise the Opposition at question time.
Signatures
In an average session only six or seven EDMs reach over two hundred signatures. Around seventy or eighty get over one hundred signatures. The majority will attract only one or two signatures.
An EDM is not likely to be debated even if it gains a large number of signatures.
Who won't sign?
The following people in Parliament normally won't sign EDMs:
Ministers and government whips
Parliamentary Private Secretaries
The Speaker and his deputies
Whilst I was a Parliamentary Private Secretary I could not sign EDMs. Since 2007 I have been on the backbenches and so have started to sign them again.
I tend to sit down and do them in large batches every few weeks. So you may witness a time delay from the time of tabling to my name appearing.
I do not sign them all. I will not be pushed into signing EDMs I do not fully agree with.
There are now about 2600 put down each parliamentary year. It takes about 2-3 minutes to consider each one.
If you have any questions about EDMs send me a question and I will try to answer it here.
As you gather from my tone I am a little cynical of the worth of EDMs but when they do gain widespread support they can make Ministers take note and they do encourage campaigners. So as long as their importance is not overblown I am happy to help!