Early Day Motion Update.

James Arbuthnot, MP, Cons signs the EDM.

There are 35 signatures so far, which doesn't include quite a number of MPs who agree with Mark's arguments but who daren't sign for fear of not having checked out the party line.

Honestly, it makes sense to sign, for what IS the point, in these recessionary times, of inspecting thousands of completely satisfactory families?

UPDATE: Very sorry, have lost the comment, but someone asked something along the lines of "why are Early Day Motions important?"

From the EDM home page:

"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."

In other words, whilst EDMs will not make the difference between bills being announced or withdrawn, they do function as a warning signal to government that a bill is going to face opposition and scrutiny and that the government cannot expect to sneak a bill through, relying on the fact that nobody is looking.

This means that it is very important to get those MPs signing the EDM and to get them to do this as early as possible in the legislative process.