Unless I'm misunderstanding your point I'd be surprised if a Member's Bill became Law by being voted on and passed by as few as only 35 MPs
Any examples ?
This thread and the entire issue is about people saying that should have happened and deriding this MP for stopping it happening this time!
Up to and including judging him guilty of sexual abuse and child abuse because they don't like his appearance, unsurprisingly. That tells you a lot about what sort of people they are.
Private Member's Bills rarely pass, but if they do then they do. If a bill has passed through the House of Commons, it has passed through the House of Commons. Regardless of how many MPs were in the House of Commons at the time.
Incidentally, Chope has publically spoken
in favour of this law. He's not opposed to the law. He's opposed to (a) laws being passed without a proper vote and (b) MPs being stripped of what little Parliamentary time they are allowed for raising their own political concerns (which is what they should be doing - representating their constituents) by that time being taken up by whatever the government demands (which is what is happening).
It's another aspect of the issue Moses and I were talking about a few posts back - the PM functioning as something close to a dictator.
I think Moses summed up the issue very well with this:
[..] That reality is important, even if technically it could all be ignored [..] the reality is that we have an elective dictatorship, even though in theory, technically speaking, the Commons could assert itself over the executive and take the lead on most things. [..]
And that's what Chope is trying to do and has been trying to do for years...and look what the response has been.
This is what he's said:
The government has been hijacking time that is rightfully that of backbenchers.
"This is about who controls the House of Commons on Fridays and that's where I am coming from. I actually support the bills that were before the house. Four of the 26 bills that fell at the same time were my own.
"But this is something I have fought for in most of my time as an MP and it goes to the very heart of the power balance between the government and parliament.
"The government is abusing parliamentary time for its own ends and in a democracy this is not acceptable.
"The government cannot just bring in what it wants on the nod. We don't quite live in the Putin era yet.
He's also spoken publically in favour of this particular law and asked the government to introduce it into Parliament as a government bill.
But hey, who gives a damn about what he actually says and why, what his position actually is? He's old, "white" and male, so he must be scum and there's nothing wrong in lying about what he's said and in presuming he's an abuser because "he looks like one". That's the way to go!
