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The government’s plan to silence criticism is whizzing through parliament. [1] Alongside other organisations - from Oxfam to the Countryside Alliance - 38 Degrees members have been turning up the pressure on MPs. [2] And it’s working. Today, the government tried to grab back the initiative. They’ve published changes to the plans which they say would address the main concerns. [3]
But they’re trying to dupe us - and dupe MPs. Their suggested changes are cosmetic, not substantial. The thrust of the ‘gagging law’ will remain exactly as is. And it's not just our opinion - charities aren’t supporting the government’s changes either.
The two key organisations representing charities, non-profits and voluntary organisations, NCVO and ACEVO, have also rejected today’s announcement. NCVO say that the changes “do not go far enough”, and “leave a great deal of uncertainty and ambiguity”. ACEVO has said that they “don’t prevent the Bill curbing freedom of speech around elections”. [6]
At every previous vote, MPs were told to keep supporting the gagging law. They were assured that the government would make changes to address the groundswell of concern. At the last vote, the minister responsible, Andrew Lansley, said he’d listened to the outcry, and that he would fix the worst bits. [7] Now his changes have been published - and they don’t fix it.
Urgent: MPs are arriving at parliament right now for their last vote on the gagging law before it moves on to the House of Lords. Over the last few weeks we’ve made it controversial, but now there are only hours left and many MPs are still undecided.
Ideally MPs would vote against the whole of part two of the lobbying bill - the part known as the gagging law. If they won’t do that, they should vote for changes that improve the law. In the last few days, a respected MP, Graham Allen, has proposed a change which would improve one of the worst parts of the law. It’s called amendment 102. [1] But it still needs a majority of MPs to vote for it later today.
The change is being supported by NCVO and a group of MPs from different parties - but not enough MPs are on board yet. [2]
38 Degrees members across the country are tweeting at their MPs today asking them to support the change - but your MP’s not on Twitter. It’s unlikely that they'll be checking their emails or taking phone calls, especially once the debate has started. So the best way to influence the vote is to up the noise on Twitter to the point where MPs who are on Twitter start feeling the heat and are pushed to vote the right way.
As we count down to the vote, can you help get the #gagginglaw hashtag trending?
The more of us who join in on Twitter today, the more MPs will be feeling the pressure. Can you make sure that Twitter is abuzz with tweets using the #gagginglaw hashtag? MPs need to see how strongly people feel about this bad law.
The office team will be live-tweeting the debate, too - join the debate on the #gagginglaw feed now, then find us @38_degrees.
But they’re trying to dupe us - and dupe MPs. Their suggested changes are cosmetic, not substantial. The thrust of the ‘gagging law’ will remain exactly as is. And it's not just our opinion - charities aren’t supporting the government’s changes either.
The two key organisations representing charities, non-profits and voluntary organisations, NCVO and ACEVO, have also rejected today’s announcement. NCVO say that the changes “do not go far enough”, and “leave a great deal of uncertainty and ambiguity”. ACEVO has said that they “don’t prevent the Bill curbing freedom of speech around elections”. [6]
At every previous vote, MPs were told to keep supporting the gagging law. They were assured that the government would make changes to address the groundswell of concern. At the last vote, the minister responsible, Andrew Lansley, said he’d listened to the outcry, and that he would fix the worst bits. [7] Now his changes have been published - and they don’t fix it.
Urgent: MPs are arriving at parliament right now for their last vote on the gagging law before it moves on to the House of Lords. Over the last few weeks we’ve made it controversial, but now there are only hours left and many MPs are still undecided.
Ideally MPs would vote against the whole of part two of the lobbying bill - the part known as the gagging law. If they won’t do that, they should vote for changes that improve the law. In the last few days, a respected MP, Graham Allen, has proposed a change which would improve one of the worst parts of the law. It’s called amendment 102. [1] But it still needs a majority of MPs to vote for it later today.
The change is being supported by NCVO and a group of MPs from different parties - but not enough MPs are on board yet. [2]
38 Degrees members across the country are tweeting at their MPs today asking them to support the change - but your MP’s not on Twitter. It’s unlikely that they'll be checking their emails or taking phone calls, especially once the debate has started. So the best way to influence the vote is to up the noise on Twitter to the point where MPs who are on Twitter start feeling the heat and are pushed to vote the right way.
As we count down to the vote, can you help get the #gagginglaw hashtag trending?
The more of us who join in on Twitter today, the more MPs will be feeling the pressure. Can you make sure that Twitter is abuzz with tweets using the #gagginglaw hashtag? MPs need to see how strongly people feel about this bad law.
The office team will be live-tweeting the debate, too - join the debate on the #gagginglaw feed now, then find us @38_degrees.
