Early Day Motion
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Early Day Motions (EDMSs) draw attention to an issue and demonstrate the strength of opinion within parliament, hopefully urging Government to take action on a particular issue. It will enable us to show cross-party support for the issue, which is crucial in our attempt to make this issue politically acceptable.
EDMs are not law but they can encourage MPs to support change and can lead to new laws if we can demonstrate support. The best way to do this is to get as many MPs from all parties to sign up to them.
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Julie Morgan MP tabled an EDM in December 2007. It reads;
That this House welcome the Government's plans to consider the arguments for lowering the voting age to 16, as stated in the Governance of Britain Green Paper; notes that 16 and 17 year olds have been calling for the right to vote for many years through the Votes at 16 coalition; notes that 16 is the age at which young people start to make real decisions about their lives, and many significant rights come into play; recognises that lowering the voting age could play a huge role in helping young people feel more connected with political processes and is the next logical extension for citizenship education; and therefore supports the Voting Age (Reduction) Bill introduced into this House; and calls on the Government to establish without delay the Youth Citizenship Commission with a clear remit to develop the necessary framework for reducing the voting age to 16.
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What can you do now?
- Find out who your local MP is and which EDM's they have already signed up to.
- Write to your MP asking them to sign up to the EDM. The more people that do this the better, this way the MP will find it hard to ignore.
- For help with all of the steps above, go to www.theyworkforyou.com.
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