Lynne Featherstone has tabled a new EDM on the situation around the Iraqi employees. It reads:
That this House recognises the courage of Iraqis who have worked alongside British troops and diplomats in southern Iraq, often saving British lives; notes that many such Iraqis have been targeted for murder by Iraqi militias in Basra, and that an unknown number have already been killed, whilst many others are in hiding; further recognises that many Iraqis who have worked for fewer than 12 months for the UK are threatened by death squads; and therefore calls upon the Prime Minister to meet the UK’s moral obligations by offering resettlement to all Iraqis who are threatened with death for the “crime” of helping British troops and diplomats.
To date, it has been signed by eleven members of the Labour Party, two members of the Conservative Party, eleven Liberal Democrats, one member of the SDLP and one member of the DUP. The text of the EDM and the up-to-date list of signatories are on the Parliamentary website.
If your MP doesn’t appear on the list I link to above, please write to them asking them to sign the EDM. It’s number 401; there’s more information on EDMs in Parliament’s glossary. If you don’t know who your MP is, you can look it up with your post code on Write to Them. Their address is House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA. Be polite and be courteous.
Further information is on the indefatigable Dan Hardie’s blog.
xD.
Keep your eye on the EDMs. Dave. How effective do you feel they are?
While there is a real risk of EDMs being a substitute for action, they are useful. They do not themselves change policy, but do highlight an issue and, most importantly, show the range of support; generally, the broader the support, the less controversial the issue is going to be. It is a gauge and a campaigning point.
I quite often flick through the EDMs… they’re often interesting.