©Copyright 2009 Phil Woolas. All Rights Reserved.
Labour Member of Parliament for
Oldham East and Saddleworth
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If I am not satisfied with the answers I receive on an issue, I may feel that there is something to be gained by making the matter public and may want to raise the issue in the House of Commons in front of the press and public.
There are a number of occasions when I may have the chance to do this.
- The most popular is for me to put the Minister on the spot by asking a question at Question Time one afternoon. Ministers answer questions at the Despatch Box on a rota basis and there is a limit to the number of questions which there will be time to ask, so this cannot necessarily be done on a given day and, of course, I may not be called by the Speaker.
- I may also try to raise your problem in the half-hour Adjournment Debate, which is usually the last business of the day, although again there will be competition amongst MPs for the right to raise matters on adjournment and I must be successful in a ballot or have my subject chosen by the Speaker.
- At other times, I may prefer to draw attention to the matter by what is called an Early Day Motion. Although EDMs are not usually debated, I will have placed on record my opinion on a subject and will be able to gauge the support of my fellow MPs.
These methods can all produce results and sometimes the publicity may be helpful in persuading a Minister to change his or her mind.
If I become aware that your problem is a common one then I may try to gain the opportunity to introduce a Private Members Bill. Only a very few such measures are successful but once again publicity is drawn to the matter and the Minister may be persuaded to make changes in the future.
How do you raise matters in the House?
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