NOVANEWS
Roger Godsiff needs to read this
Dear All
Imagine this: it’s election time. Politicians are out campaigning for votes. Normally, we’d see the Women’s Institute out too, and Oxfam, and local campaigns on issues from schools to hospitals to housing. They’d be pushing candidates to say where they stand and what they’d do on key issues of the day.
Next election, the gagging law could put an end to that. If it goes through, thousands of organisations will be severely restricted in what they can spend – and what they can do – in the 12 months before voting day. [1] We’d all lose important ways of holding politicians to account and telling them what we think.
The outcry has been huge. [2] A coalition of 100+ organisations is supporting an independent, expert Commission, chaired by a former Bishop of Oxford. [3] It’s just produced a heavy-weight report laying out step-by-step how to fix the gagging law and protect our democracy. [4]
The law’s being debated again next week. So this report needs to gain momentum right now. MPs need to read it, and accept its findings. Please click here to send your MP a copy of the report today:
https://secure.38degrees.org.
There are early signs the government might make concessions in the House of Lords. Pressure on your MP right now can make that more likely.
How?
1. MPs spend a lot of time in Parliament and are in frequent contact with members of the House of Lords. That means our MPs are a key channel through which we can pile on the pressure in the run up to next week’s votes. We need to push our MPs to talk to Lords and tell them voters are demanding they accept the Commission report.
2. If the Lords do make major changes to the law, it has to go back to MPs for a fresh vote in a process known as “ping-pong”. If MPs are going to vote again, it’s important that they’ve understood the problems AND that they’re under heavy pressure to do the right thing.
Please can you make sure your MP receives a copy of the Commission’s report by sending one to them now, and asking them if they’ll publicly support it?
https://secure.38degrees.org.
38 Degrees members, along with loads of other organisations, have been busy all around the country. Last week, 131 different groups organised to meet their MPs to give them a copy of the 200,000-strong petition against the gagging law. [5] MPs from Bath to Orkney have been challenged to justify their position at public meetings with hundreds of their constituents. [6]
All the pressure seems to be starting to work. In the past few days, Lib Dem peers such as Lord Tyler have started to accept there are problems and to table amendments. [7] So far, these amendments don’t solve all the problems, by a long stretch! But they are positive and they show that our concerns are starting to be listened to. So let’s keep going.
Click here to send a copy of the Commission’s report to your MP now:
https://secure.38degrees.org.
Thanks for being involved,
Susannah, Belinda, David, Megan and the 38 Degrees team
NOTES
[1] Guardian: New lobbying bill will affect charities’ ability to campaign on political issues:
http://www.theguardian.com/
[2] Conservative Home: James Legge: A five week pause later, the Lobbying Bill is no better:
http://www.conservativehome.
[3] The Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement:
http://civilsocietycommission.
[4] The Commission on Civil Society and Democratic Engagement: Non-party Campaigning Ahead of Elections, Report 2:
http://civilsocietycommission.
[5] 38 Degrees Blog: Gagging law petition hand-ins across the country:
http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/
You can see the map of all the petition hand-ins so far here:
http://secure.38degrees.org.
[6] 38 Degrees blog: Posts about public meetings with MPs:
http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/
7] Parliament.uk: Transparency of Lobbying, Non-Party Campaigning and Trade Union Administration Bill, Amendments to be moved in Committee:
http://www.publications.
One thought on “It’s Election Time”
Hello There. I discovered your blog the use of msn. That is a very neatly
written article. I will make sure to bookmark it and return to learn extra
of your helpful information. Thanks for the post. I will certainly comeback.