Campaigns
Andy receives a large amount of campaign emails and so in order to maintain a good service for all constituents and to manage the sheer volume of campaign correspondence, we will post a response to campaign emails in this section of Andy's website as soon as possible.
To prevent the page from getting cluttered, we file each campaign response under the Parliamentary session the campaign first started. Parliamentary sessions begin and end in Spring each year.
I hope you can appreciate our stance on campaigns.
Free votes
A new Parliament also often brings a number of conscience issues; such matters are often decided by free votes. In addition, there were specific single issue free vote queries which were raised during the election campaign. I have set out below my views on some of these issues.
Early Day Motions
Andy often receives requests from constituents to sign Early Day Motions (EDMs), but like many MPs does not sign these, no matter how worthy the cause.
I realise this is a source of disappointment to some of those who contact Andy and I would like to make it clear that not signing an EDM does not mean that Andy does not care about the issue at hand, Andy just does not believe that EDMs are an effective way to achieve a solution.
Whilst Andy recognises that, at the time of their conception, EDMs were an important way in which to draw attention to particular causes, EDMs today have no chance of changing the law and serve as petitions that only MPs can sign.
They have now been superseded by the No. 10 e-petitions; which serve as a more efficient and cost effective democratic tool that can be signed by everyone. Today’s social media also allows for many ways in which people’s attention can be brought to issues without using public funds.
EDMs cost a huge amount to administer each year and Andy does not think they are good value for money, costing the taxpayer around £300 per motion to print.
I hope you can appreciate our stance on EDMs.
