Thank you Gordon Brown… having been told yet again by the doctors (and the Whips) to “take things easy and rest” the prime minister has gone and paid a visit to Her Majesty and called a General Election.

Semi-joking aside, 6^th May was the worst kept secret in all Christendom. Given that the local elections were already scheduled to take place on that day, it made no sense to hold the two polls on different days – although that did last happen in 1992 (when the General Election was in April and the Council polls just four weeks later).

Of course, until next Monday I remain a Member of Parliament. Then the current parliament is formally dissolved and a Writ is published for elections to the new parliament. As I type, MPs are currently pushing legislation through streamlined parliamentary procedures so that some Bills can become law in this session. Commonly known as the wash-up, the procedure is usually non-contentious, although this time round the Digital Economy Bill is causing real concerns to people (if Twitter is anything to go by). I agree. I think a Bill of this magnitude probably needs full parliamentary scrutiny.

The good news from the wash-up though is my Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill was included on the list of Bills agreed between the Government and Opposition and, thanks to Sally Keeble MP for stepping in once again, it completed its Commons stages today. Tomorrow it is in the Lords and – with a bit of luck – it should become law! To everyone who supported my bill, thank you!

My private members bill succeeding is actually quite a nice way to end this parliament. After all the (self inflicted) bashing politics and politicians have taken in recent years, let the Debt Relief Bill serve as a reminder that most people are involved in politics for the right reasons, to help change the world… and sometimes, just sometimes, we manage to do just that!

Over the next month I plan to blog from the campaign trail…

Everything seemed to be going smoothly, a bit too smoothly perhaps, for the Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill

That one word, echoing around a near empty House of Commons means my Private Members Bill did not get its third and final reading last week. We try again this Friday (19^th March) but realistically last Friday was the only opportunity we had to get proceedings started in the Lords before the General Election is called; there has to be a two week gap between the Commons stages and the Lords.

It was just possible, with government and opposition support, that the Bill could have been agreed in the ‘wash-up’ immediately after dissolution and, therefore, would have become law. This now won’t happen.

Indeed, the most annoying thing is how the Conservatives have led people a merry dance over my Bill. On the face of it, they supported it (albeit with some minor reservations). At second reading, they said lots of nice things about the Bill from their frontbench, and yet the tell-tale signs were there, even then. Sally Keeble, who kindly piloted the Bill through the various stages in my absence, and I wanted to try doing all the stages – 2^nd reading, Committee and 3^rd reading – all on the afternoon of 26^th February. The Liberal Democrats and the various minor parties all agreed to this approach because they supported the Bill. The Conservatives, however, wouldn’t agree to this fast-tracking approach, ensuring it had to go though each stage separately.

We continued to try and bring Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition on board, and at Committee stage even accepted a number of concessions and amendments so the Bill could be supported by all parties and become law. The Conservative frontbench got everything they asked for, including a sunset clause, meaning the legislation would have to be voted on annually for it to continue.

Which brings me back to last Friday: just three Conservative MPs were in the Chamber. Two were Opposition whips, and one was the Chairman during the Committee Stage of the Bill. One of them shouted “OBJECT”. With that single word, not only was my Private Members Bill effectively killed, but the hopes of the 40 poorest countries in the world, too.

With that single vocal objection, the United Kingdom Parliament sadly signalled to other countries (many who are looking to introduce similar legislation) that we think it still alright for the so-called vulture funds to buy up cheap historic third world debts and then sue for full repayment with interest here in the British Courts.

View the Jubilee Debt Campaign on Vulture Funds here

Co-sign Douglas Alexander’s letter to David Cameron here

POLLS UPDATE:

Late last night on Twitter, @toryatsea (yes I do have quite a few Tory friends on Twitter, I know!) was bemoaning the ‘poll obsessives’ – something I concede from my sick bed, I have become. This was following the latest YouGov tracker poll for The Sun, continuing to show only a 6% Tory lead.

The tracker poll is an interesting beast. My understanding is there is a set sample and each day, the oldest data drops off and a similar new sample is added. In theory, any switches in support over events, should be immediately apparent, rather than having to wait for the next monthly poll to be produced. Of course, the usual points about margins of error, etc., still apply.

The most interesting thing about the YouGov tracker (as at 24^th February in any case) is that there has been very little movement, despite all the media hype over ‘Bully-gate’. Whether this factors into subsequent polls still remains to be seen, but the YouGov tracker is also in line with all the other current published polls (except the Angus Reid polls which are wildly out on anything else published!)

YouGov Tracker Poll:

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VULTURE FUNDS:

My Debt Relief (Developing Countries) Bill has its second reading on Friday. As I mentioned in my earlier blog piece, Sally Keeble MP (pictured) has very kindly agreed to take the Bill forward for me on Friday – and until I can properly return to work following my recent health problems. The text of the Bill and Explanatory Notes can be found here.

And here’s a piece from today’s Guardian too.

Every year I have put my name down on the Private Member’s Bill ballot – just in case I am lucky enough to be drawn – and for the past four years, I have failed miserably to get any slot for my own piece of legislation.

Then, one morning in November 2009, I got up and switched on my BlackBerry (which had been charging overnight) and received instantly about 500 emails begging and pleading with me to take up a variety of good causes in my Bill. By the time I had reached my Commons office, it was over 1,000 emails. And a few days later, the snail mail had started to drop on my desk too!

Actually I think the ballot was a Mancunian “fix” this year – all top three slots went to Greater Manchester Labour MPs (Dr Brian Iddon, David Chaytor and myself).

I have spent a great deal of time considering which issue I should take forward and that’s no easy task… everyone wants to be your friend! But when I was elected to Parliament one of my personal pledges was to help those who are less fortunate than ourselves in this world.

One of the things I have personally been concerned about has been the operation of so called “vulture funds” whereby a small number of investment companies buy up the defaulted debts of the world’s poorest countries at very low prices and then take them to court to aggressively recoup the debts at full value. So after long consideration this is the issue I have decided to deal with through my Private Member’s Bill.

Very recently in the UK High Court two investment funds won the right to recover over £20m from Liberia, one of the poorest countries in the world. This was for an initial loan in the 1970s of only £6m. Surely this is money that could be better spent on things such as health and education by the Liberian Government?

For too long, some companies have been allowed to get away with exploiting the debt relief received by developing countries for their own profit; taking vital resources away from those that need it most.

The second reading debate is next Friday, 26th February. For health reasons, I am unable to personally present the bill, but kindly the whips’ and the Speaker have allowed me to be able to have it presented by another member (Sally Keeble has agreed to do this) although the Bill remains in my name.

In all seriousness, I’m not entirely sure how likely my Bill is to make it onto the statute book. The timing of the General Election and the dissolution of Parliament will to some extent determine that. But we’ll give it a go and hopefully help to change the world in a small way!

For more information, see the Jubilee Debt Campaign.

The text of the Bill and explanatory notes can now be found here.