Mr Graham Allen MP (P21)
E-petitioning falls into the referendum/populist
category of e-democracy, I would hope that the Committee will
be spending at least as much time on e- pre-legislative scrutiny
which invites people into the world of representative democracy
requiring considered amendment of bills and interaction with the
standing committees mediator and ultimately the government in
producing better law.
Since I represent the least educated constituency
in the UK my concern about e-petitioning is that it will inevitably
be skewed away from my constituents who have lower PC use, are
less literate and include a high percentage of the elderly.
My second concern is that the e-traffic that
I get as an MP is often more reactive and less considered than
the comments and problems which I receive in letters. There is
far more response to what the media have selected to be on television
on a given day in my email traffic than in correspondence. In
order to generate stories, the 24/7 media will have no compunction
in launching media e-campaigns at MPs—one on MPs' pay and
expenses would always be a good stand-by for a slow news day.
MPs will be able to pass their days scrubbing down the Parliamentary
graffiti sprayed overnight on their PCs rather than figuring out
the more onerous job of how they should be holding government
to account.
All petitions are open to abuse but as we all
know from our own experience you can attempt to recruit hundreds
of other people at the touch of a button and they may choose to
meet your request since doing so requires little effort on their
behalf. No doubt the Committee will be aware of these problems.
Most petitions are actually misdirected to MPs
and Parliament since they should be aimed at the Executive ie
Government. Is the intention to re-direct all petitions requiring
government action and only deal with those which require Parliamentary
action? In this case more effective means of individual Members
raising debates to respond to Parliamentary concerns will be required.
Without this, Parliament and MPs will continue their role as post-boxes
and if this is to be the case I hope proper provision will be
made to get us some nicely designed uniforms with shiny buttons!
My biggest concern however relates to the response
that petitioners receive to their petitions from government. For
both written and e-petitions there has to be a binding obligation
on the relevant government department to issue a reasoned response
which the MP can then forward to all those who have petitioned,
the historical practise of at best acknowledging and usually ignoring
MPs' petitions has served only to reveal the low level of respect
in which they are held by government.
January 2008
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