THE Parliamentary Early Day Motion (EDM) can be a useful tool for publicising a cause, for gauging the strength of feeling among MPs on certain issues, and for celebrating an achievement. They are rarely voted upon, which may perhaps be a blessing when one considers some that have been put forward.
Consider this infamous example from 2004, backed by Labour MPs Tony Banks, John McDonnell and a certain Jeremy Corbyn: “That this House is appalled, but barely surprised, at the revelations in M15 files regarding the bizarre and inhumane proposals to use pigeons as flying bombs … and believes that humans represent the most obscene, perverted, cruel, uncivilised and lethal species ever to inhabit the planet…”
EDMs can also be on weighty topics, such as the release of Nelson Mandela from incarceration or calling for a bill on climate change.
The EDM tabled yesterday by Dunfermline and West Fife MP Douglas Chapman and backed by seven fellow SNP representatives, “that this House warmly congratulates England international footballer Wayne Rooney on his achievement of becoming England's top goal scorer of all time”, does not fall into the latter category, but it may share one characteristic of the example quoted: it may, north of the Border, set the cat amongst the pigeons.
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