Suddenly I am the most popular MP in Britain!
December 5, 2003 12:00 AM
By Andrew Stunell MP in Community News
By Andrew Stunell MP in Community News
It all happened so quickly! I was sitting in Committee Room 13 in the House of Commons, asking questions of the Director of Finance at my Select Committee when one of the other MPs slipped a note in front of me. A simple enough message, but it changed things in a flash. I have been transformed by the luck of the draw into one of the most sought-after MPs in town.
In every Parliamentary session up to 20 Private Members Bills are allowed to be discussed. Most of them don't get through, either because of a shortage of time, or government opposition, or deliberate sabotage by the Bill's enemies. Any MP can put their name down, and then the first twenty are drawn out of a hat. Each year I have been in Parliament I have, of course, put my name in the draw. I have never got anywhere. But this year I was the first name out of the hat.
I am not just privileged to bring forward a Bill of my choice, I am actually first in the queue. If anyone has a good chance of getting their Bill into law sometime next summer it is the MP who comes top in the Private Members Ballot. And this time that is me.
That's why I am suddenly so popular! Because everyone who has every thought of an Act of Parliament they would like to see passed wants me to adopt their proposal for my Bill. Within 24 hours I had had hundreds of e-mails (many of them identical, which rather spoils the impact!) asking me to agree to their pet suggestions. And a cascade of faxes. And even some visitors to Parliament who came to hand in some ideas personally. The Government also has some it wouldn't mind me promoting - and they have invited me to talk to them about their own list of bright ideas. Mostly they are the simple tidying-up measures that are long-overdue, but too small to feature in their own programme.
More than that, several organisations promoting their favourite ideas have already got them drawn up into the strange legal language needed for an Act of Parliament, and on top of that, are promising me expert advice so that any snags can be ironed out as it goes along. That is quite an important consideration, as every Bill has to go through the same thorough scrutiny before it goes into law.
However my new-found popularity will be short lived! Once I have made my choice all those disappointed by it will slink away without even a goodbye. So I have a week or two of flattery and support from every side, and then 9 months of hard work as the Bill is first of all 'tabled', then debated 'in principle' at Second Reading, then sent to a small committee of MPs to consider every paragraph and comma. After that it comes back to the full House for its 'Report Stage', when any changes made in committee are considered, and then finally it gets its Third Reading, when the Bill is again considered lock-stock-and-barrel. If it survives all that, it goes off to the House of Lords, who do the same thing again! Only if all that is fitted in before next November does it become law.
So what am I going to choose? By the time you read this I may have made my choice, but just for now I am keeping my cards close to my chest. All those unwanted e-mails may be a nuisance, but meanwhile I am enjoying my few days on everyone's guest list. I am certainly not expecting it to happen again any time soon!
End
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