Contents

Published: Friday 17 November 2023

Early Day Motions tabled on Thursday 16 November 2023

Early Day Motions (EDMs) are motions for which no days have been fixed.

The number of signatories includes all members who have added their names in support of the Early Day Motion (EDM), including the Member in charge of the Motion.

EDMs and added names are also published on the EDM database at www.parliament.uk/edm

[R] Indicates that a relevant interest has been declared.

New EDMs

67Council budgets and audits

Tabled: 16/11/23 Signatories: 1

Helen Morgan

That this House notes with concern the increase in the number of councils struggling to meet the costs of temporary accommodation, Special Educational Needs and Disability services and social care; recognises the importance of local councils’ services in providing essential support for vulnerable individuals and their families; notes with concern the backlog in the number of unaudited accounts for councils and other public bodies; understands that 99% of English councils did not have their 2022-23 financial accounts signed off by the legal audit deadline; further notes the increasing pressure on local councils to make precarious investments to protect essential services; regrets government cuts to local council budgets since 2015; and calls on the Government to ensure local councils are adequately funded and resourced to clear the audit backlog and provide essential services for the long term.

68Documents relating to meetings between the Prime Minister and Rt hon Member for Fareham in October 2022

Tabled: 16/11/23 Signatories: 1

Daisy Cooper

That there be laid before this House a return of the following documents:

(a) the minutes from any meetings between the Prime Minister and the Rt hon Member for Fareham in October 2022 relating to the conditions under which the Rt hon Member for Fareham would take up the office of Home Secretary; and

(b) any documents relating to such conditions, including documents relating to policy agreement.

6950th anniversary of Dickens on The Strand Celebration

Tabled: 16/11/23 Signatories: 1

Tracey Crouch

That this House congratulates the Galveston Historical Foundation in Texas on the 50th anniversary of the annual Dickens on The Strand celebration from 1 to 3 December 2023; welcomes the expected 50,000 visitors to the festival which celebrates the life and work of Charles Dickens who spent many years of his life in Kent, most notably in Chatham; notes that the Tall Ship Elissa– the official Tall Ship of Texas – which will host the ‘Salute to Sunset’ during the festival was built in the United Kingdom; celebrates the historical ties between the United Kingdom and the city of Galveston which was home to the first British Consulate in the State of Texas in 1846; and welcomes the role of the British Consulate-General in Houston as the presenting sponsor for this year’s historic event.

70Sewage discharges

Tabled: 16/11/23 Signatories: 1

Jon Trickett

That this House expresses its concern at the continuing dumping of sewage into UK waterways; recognises that the practice is dangerous to public health and damaging to the environment; further recognises that the pollution is making it unsafe for people to swim in natural designated bathing sites such as the River Wharfe in Ilkely, West Yorkshire, which has been given a water quality rating of poor by the Environment Agency; notes that despite multiple failures, £19 billion was paid out in dividends to shareholders in water and sewerage businesses operating in England between 2010 and 2021, which is an average of £1.7 billion a year; further notes that water bills in England and Wales have increased by 40 per cent above inflation since privatisation in 1989; notes with dismay that water companies in England and Wales want bills to increase by £156 a year by 2030 to pay for upgrades and reduce sewage discharges; calls on the Government to immediately place a legal duty on the water companies to avoid sewage dumping; and expresses its support for the public ownership of the UK water system so that the profits of this national asset benefit all the people of the UK and not just a small group of shareholders.

Added Names

Below are EDMs tabled in the last two weeks to which names have been added. Only the first 6 names and any new names are included.

1Protecting civilians in Gaza and Israel

Tabled: 7/11/23 Signatories: 100

Richard Burgon

Caroline Lucas

Liz Saville Roberts

Chris Stephens

Claire Hanna

Kenny MacAskill

This House utterly condemns the massacre of Israeli civilians and taking of hostages by Hamas; agrees with the United Nations Secretary-General that these horrific acts do not justify responding with the collective punishment of the Palestinian people; expresses its deep alarm at the Israeli military bombardment and total siege of Gaza and the resulting deaths and suffering; believes that the urgent priority must be to stop the deaths and suffering of any more civilians in Gaza and Israel; welcomes the joint statement from 12 leading aid agencies, including Oxfam, Christian Aid, CAFOD, Medical Aid for Palestinians and Islamic Relief, calling on the UK Government to use its influence to help protect civilians, to ensure adherence to international humanitarian law and to guarantee civilians have access to critical life-saving humanitarian support; and to this end supports their call for the Prime Minister and Foreign Secretary to urgently press all parties to agree to an immediate de-escalation and cessation of hostilities, to ensure the immediate, unconditional release of the Israeli hostages, to end the total siege of Gaza and allow for unfettered access of medical supplies, food, fuel electricity and water, to guarantee that international humanitarian law is upheld and that civilians are protected in accordance with those laws.

7Sixth year of detention of Jagtar Singh Johal

Tabled: 7/11/23 Signatories: 39

Martin Docherty-Hughes

Claudia Webbe

Stewart Malcolm McDonald

Jim Shannon

Jonathan Edwards

Stuart C McDonald

That this House notes that Friday 4 November 2023 marked the sixth anniversary of the arbitrary detention in India of Jagtar Singh Johal, a Sikh activist and son of the Rock of Dumbarton held since being abducted from the street during his honeymoon by unidentified assailants who turned out to be undercover police agents; further notes that he alleges that while held incommunicado for 10 days by local police, he was tortured both physically and through electric shocks to his nipples and genitals, something which led him to signing a confession, a confession that has subsequently been used when filing charges against him; supports the ruling of the UN Working Group on arbitrary detention which in May 2022 gave its opinion that Jagtar’s detention was an arbitrary one; urges the Government to also support this opinion and do what it can to achieve Jagtar’s immediate release; further regrets the continuation of the Government’s negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement with the Republic of India as long as a UK citizen remains arbitrarily detained in an Indian prison; and states unequivocally that these negotiations should be paused until such time as the Indian Government addresses Jagtar’s arbitrary detention.

28Section 21 evictions

Tabled: 8/11/23 Signatories: 11

Jon Trickett

Caroline Lucas

John McDonnell

Jonathan Edwards

Claudia Webbe

Cat Smith

That this House urgently calls on the Government to proceed with their 2019 manifesto promise to abolish section 21 of the Housing Act 1988, otherwise known as no fault evictions; condemns the number of delays in bringing forward a proper legislative ban in the last parliamentary session; urges the government to strengthen the Renters (Reform) Bill in regard to no fault evictions; notes that section 21 evictions are increasingly used by landlords, with the ONS finding that threats of eviction using section 21 notices rose by 69 per cent, while instances of actual evictions more than doubled, rising by 143 per cent; further notes media reports which show that 40 families a day have been threatened with no-fault evictions since the Government undertook to ban them in 2019; highlights the huge pressure on social housing with over one million waiting for a home; condemns the Government’s failure to fulfil its promise to ban no fault evictions, especially with the added urgency of a global pandemic and then a cost of living crisis; further condemns the fact that vulnerable people are potentially being made homeless; welcomes the statement by Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State on 15 February 2023 that the Government will legislate in this Parliament to abolish Section 21 no fault evictions; and urges the Government to stop delaying and to act now.

31Myalgic encephalomyelitis research and treatment

Tabled: 9/11/23 Signatories: 12

Clive Lewis

John McDonnell

Jonathan Edwards

Claudia Webbe

Ben Lake

Liz Saville Roberts

This House commends current research being conducted by the Quadram Institute on the Norwich Research Park that builds on recent evidence that conditions like myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), and Long Covid, have a basis in the immune system; notes that ME (sometimes known as ME/CFS) is a severely debilitating condition thought to affect up to 250,000 people in the UK and that symptoms include widespread pain, extreme tiredness and an inability to concentrate and that the causes of ME are not known and there are no effective treatments; commends the funding provided by the charity Invest in ME Research to the Quadram Institute to run the only current clinical trial in the UK for ME; believes it is necessary to establish a Centre for ME Research, building on excellent biomedical research, to act as a hub for research and treatment of ME; and calls on the Government to support and promote such a specialist Centre to help develop effective treatments.

3385th anniversary of Kristallnacht and antisemitism

Tabled: 9/11/23 Signatories: 13

Patricia Gibson

Patrick Grady

Ben Lake

Liz Saville Roberts

Hywel Williams

Allan Dorans

That this House commemorates the victims of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), a destructive campaign of violence against Jewish people, on its 85th anniversary; understands that, throughout the night of 9-10 November 1938, the Nazi Party targeted synagogues and Jewish prayer rooms across Germany, with over 1,400 burned or badly damaged, 7,500 Jewish businesses across Germany and Austria vandalised, and at least 91 people murdered, with a further 30,000 Jewish men being arrested and taken to concentration camps, where many more died; further understands that this was followed by hundreds of suicides in the Jewish community and mass emigration; recognises the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany’s relaunched campaign, ItStartedWithWords, highlighting that the Holocaust did not start with camps, ghettos and deportations, but with words of hate; understands this campaign’s importance in view of the growing prevalence of Holocaust denial and hate speech towards Jews; notes concerning reports that more than 1,000 anti-Semitic incidents have taken place across the UK since Hama’s terrorist attacks on 7 October 2023, the highest 28-day total recorded since the Community Security Trust began tracking attacks in 1984, and a 537% increase over the same period in 2022; recognises the resilience of Holocaust survivors who continue to highlight the barbaric actions that took place during the Second World War, particularly following the unacceptable rise in antisemitism recently; and continues to remember the 6 million Jewish people and others targeted due to ethnicity, religion, political beliefs and sexual orientation who were victims of Nazi persecution.

44Breast cancer screening and entitlement to paid leave

Tabled: 13/11/23 Signatories: 7

Jonathan Edwards

Ben Lake

Kate Osborne

Chris Stephens

Jim Shannon

Cat Smith

That this House notes that the UK, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland Governments all offer breast cancer screening to women aged 50 to 70 every three years; supports such policies as an important preventative health care strategy; calls for employment law to be amended to remove barriers to and ensure that women do not lose pay and entitlements for attending appointments; and commends the work of the JG HR Pledge campaign for raising awareness of and encouraging employers to pledge to support their employees to attend regular screening appointments.

45Wealth taxation and EU Tax Observatory report on global tax evasion

Tabled: 13/11/23 Signatories: 5

Jonathan Edwards

Chris Stephens

Jim Shannon

Claire Hanna

Caroline Lucas

That this House welcomes the EU Tax Observatory inaugural report on global tax evasion; notes that the report indicates that the richest people in the world are operating on the edge of legality to evade paying tax; expresses concern at the findings of the report that the very richest use shell companies and other measures to reduce their tax burden to between 0% and 0.6%; further notes that real estate in expensive cities such as London provides a vehicle for the very wealthy to avoid paying tax; notes that the report calls on the 3,000 richest people in the world, with combined assets of $13 trillion, to be taxed at a rate of 2% of their total wealth; estimates that such a measure would raise £205 billion annually; and joins calls for the G20 Summit in Brazil in November 2024 to begin efforts to introduce a global wealth tax on the very richest people.

47Seasonal Worker visa scheme

Tabled: 13/11/23 Signatories: 15

John McDonnell

Jon Trickett

Jonathan Edwards

Kate Osborne

Chris Stephens

Kim Johnson

That this House notes the recent report by the Bureau of Investigative Journalism and the Independent which identified issues of racism, wage theft and threats of being sent back home in 19 farm inspection reports produced by the Home Office between 2021 and 2022; recognises that migrant seasonal workers are integral to the UK’s horticultural sector and that working conditions under the seasonal worker visa must urgently be improved; further recognises that the current iteration of the seasonal worker visa is due to expire at the end of 2024 and that improvements to working conditions must be implemented before any decision to extend the scheme is made; calls on the Government to urgently complete and publish a review of the seasonal worker visa scheme in line with the recommendations that it accepted by the Independent Chief Inspector of Borders and Immigration in the report entitled An inspection of the immigration system as it relates to the agricultural sector, published in December 2022; further calls on the Government to implement the recommendations on the seasonal worker visa scheme of the report by the House of Lords Select Committee on Horticulture entitled Sowing the seeds: A blooming English horticultural sector (November 2023); and calls on the Government to engage with independent civil society organisations advocating for the rights of migrant seasonal workers in the recently formed Seasonal Worker Interest Group to address the design-related issues from the seasonal workers visa scheme.

51Veterans Day bank holiday

Tabled: 13/11/23 Signatories: 13

Grahame Morris

Jonathan Edwards

Kate Osborne

Lloyd Russell-Moyle

Rebecca Long Bailey

Chris Stephens

That this House wishes to honour the service and sacrifice of our Armed Forces with a new bank holiday on the day after Remembrance Sunday; notes that many countries have a dedicated Veterans Day public holiday; recognises that, by international standards, the UK is amongst the countries with the fewest public holidays; highlights the need for more bank holidays in the second half of the year because the majority of the current statutory bank holidays are during the spring and summer months; and believes that any such proposal from the Government would command significant cross-party support.

52Immediate bilateral ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict

Tabled: 13/11/23 Signatories: 16

Layla Moran [R]

Jamie Stone

Richard Foord

Christine Jardine

Munira Wilson

Daisy Cooper

That this House believes that only a two-state solution can deliver the security which both Palestinians and Israelis deserve; further believes that Hamas cannot be allowed to continue in charge of Gaza; condemns the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas in Israel on 7 October 2023; deplores the violence in the weeks since; notes with horror the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, affecting millions of innocent Palestinian civilians, the ongoing hostage situation and the risk of regional escalation; notes that it is increasingly clear there will be no military solution that will eliminate Hamas and that movement towards a political solution is needed; accordingly urges the Government to call for an immediate bilateral ceasefire to provide space to achieve that political solution; further notes that such a ceasefire would be contingent on both parties sticking to it and that if one party breaks the ceasefire, a military option remains on the table; believes that this is not an end goal but a step towards peace; disagrees with those who advocate freezing the conflict, which leaves Hamas in charge of Gaza and does not look to the future; and notes that an immediate bilateral ceasefire would provide time to facilitate the delivery of aid into Gaza, facilitate the release of the hostages and provide space to intensify diplomacy towards delivering a political solution with Hamas out of Gaza, two states and a lasting peace.

54Food banks

Tabled: 14/11/23 Signatories: 4

Jon Trickett

Kim Johnson

Clive Lewis

Caroline Lucas

That this House notes with extreme concern the new figures from The Trussell Trust which showed that 1.5 million food parcels were provided to people between April and September 2023 by food banks in the charity’s UK-wide network, which is a 16% increase on the same period in 2022; highlights that 320,000 people have needed to use a food bank for the first time in the past six months; notes that a record 540,000 food parcels were provided for more than 265,000 children living in families who could not afford the essentials, which is an 11% increase compared to the same period last year; highlights the grave concerns expressed by the UN Poverty envoy Olivier De Schutter on poverty levels in the UK; and urges the Government to act now to tackle poverty by ensuring decent pay, investment and high quality public services.

57Secretaries of State and membership of the House of Commons

Tabled: 14/11/23 Signatories: 2

Jonathan Edwards

Caroline Lucas

That this House believes that Secretaries of State should be Members of the House of Commons.

58Taxation of savings and inheritance

Tabled: 14/11/23 Signatories: 3

Mr Gregory Campbell

Jim Shannon

Sir Mike Penning

That this House notes recent reports that in the 2023-24 financial year, tax paid on savings income is due to reach more than £6.5 billion, a rise of approximately 100% since 2022, and the expected take through inheritance tax of approximately £8 billion, which has increased over 30% in the same period; notes that the Treasury expect to receive almost £15 billion in tax next year from these two sources alone; further notes that this is income that has already been taxed largely from earned and saved income; and calls on the Chancellor of the Exchequer to introduce tax reductions aimed at hard-working taxpayers, particularly the millions who are in the middle-income bracket.

60Scottish Gymnastics lifetime achievement award

Tabled: 15/11/23 Signatories: 3

Drew Hendry

Jonathan Edwards

Allan Dorans

That this house congratulates Liz Danby on receiving a lifetime achievement award from Scottish Gymnastics for the decades of service she has committed to helping children and young people get involved in gymnastics; notes that she set up a schools gymnastics programme to improve accessibility to the sport; recognises that her enthusiasm and support helped hundreds of young people across the Highlands; pays thanks to her for her commitment and dedication over the years; and wishes her all the best for her retirement.

61Litter on motorways

Tabled: 15/11/23 Signatories: 3

Sir Mike Penning

Jonathan Edwards

Dr Thérèse Coffey

That this House deplores the huge amount of litter on motorways, access road, junctions and verges; notes that there is a crystal clear legal obligation on National Highways to ensure roads are kept clear of litter; and calls on National Highways to act on this obligation, use motorway gantries to promote anti-littering messaging, ensure staff and contractors remove signs, sandbags and cones following roadworks in a timely manner and ensure contracts include financial penalties for not doing so.

62VAT on audiobooks

Tabled: 15/11/23 Signatories: 4

Sir Mike Penning

Claire Hanna

Jonathan Edwards

Caroline Lucas

That this House recognises that audio books, now popular and widely available across all genres, from business to academic, from historical to self help, are a lifeline for many people with sight loss, visual impairment, dyslexia or other reading disabilities; agrees that audio books offer unique opportunities for visually-impaired and dyslexic people to improve their education on a par with their peers; recognises that audio books enable visually-impaired and dyslexic people to continue working independently for longer and thereby contribute to the economy for longer; further recognises that audio books open up a world of information, literature and poetry to visually-impaired and dyslexic people; welcomes the zero-rate VAT for e-books but also recognises that e-books, when read aloud by automated text-to-speech, are difficult to listen to for long periods, lack intonation, may mispronounce names and places, can often read out every bracket and notation, making it difficult to comprehend or recall meaning; notes that other European countries have recently reduced their rates of VAT on audiobooks, including Norway to zero; and calls for equal VAT-status to be applied to audio books as already exists for e-books and physical books.

63Plastics in the world's seas

Tabled: 15/11/23 Signatories: 4

Sir Mike Penning

Claire Hanna

Jonathan Edwards

Mohammad Yasin

That this House notes that according to the UN there will be more plastic in the sea than fish by 2050; calls for the Government to publish a strategy for promoting a circular economy in respect of plastics, including setting targets and measures for the elimination and recycling of single-use plastics; further calls for the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to establish a task force to develop proposals to encourage the use of reuse and refill models of packaging, to report annually to Parliament on the implementation of the strategy, to ensure that UK targets for the elimination and recycling of plastic packaging are more demanding than equivalent targets set by the EU, and to require manufacturers and retailers to pay for the cost of recycling plastic; calls for Government to set annual targets for reducing the quantity of plastic waste that is incinerated; further calls for the Secretary of State to publish a plan for banning the export of plastic waste by 2027, make provision for the purpose of reducing the cost of recycling plastic, including measures to encourage the standardisation of plastic packaging, give powers to the Office for Environmental Protection to enforce legislation relating to plastic pollution, and make provision for the purpose of encouraging the development of sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging; and calls on the Government to publish a plan for the use of fiscal policy to incentivise investment in recycling infrastructure and sustainable behaviour by consumers and retailers.

64Ban on the import of foie gras

Tabled: 15/11/23 Signatories: 3

Sir Mike Penning

Jonathan Edwards

Caroline Lucas

That this House condemns the production of foie gras by force-feeding ducks and geese which causes severe physical and psychological pain for the animals involved; welcomes the continued ban on production of foie gras in the UK; and calls on the Government to introduce the promised ban on the import of foie gras immediately.

65Redundancies at Reach plc and sustainability of the press

Tabled: 15/11/23 Signatories: 8

Ian Byrne

Grahame Morris

Chris Stephens

John McDonnell

Rebecca Long Bailey

Liz Saville Roberts

That this House is dismayed at the extent of substantial job cuts announced by Reach plc, publisher of titles including The Mirror, Daily Record, Daily Star, Manchester Evening News, Irish Mirror and Liverpool Echo; notes that the company has indicated an estimated 450 posts will be made redundant at the company, including 320 editorial roles; further notes that this represents the third round of job cuts at the publisher this year alone; fears that the quality of news provision will inevitably be impacted by the loss of talented and experienced staff; calls on the management to work collaboratively with the National Union of Journalists to avoid compulsory redundancies; and urges the Government to take immediate action to protect the sustainability of the press and encourage investment in quality journalism at local, regional and national levels.