Letter to Editor, Oxford Mail 1st September 2005

Dear Sir,

Former Labour Councillor Mick McAndrews (Oxford Mail, August 30) suggests

that Labour MP Andrew Smith is justified in not signing any Early Day

 Motions (EDMs) because reading them would take too much of his time.

Since Early Day Motions are usually only one paragraph, reading them all

would be less onerous than dealing with the amount of paperwork Mr Smith

would have been expected to read in an average evening when he was a

Treasury Minister. Did he read the papers then, or was he willing to put

his name to policies which he had not read?

EDM 267 opposes the closure of the Oxford - Bicester Rail Service. If a

number of MPs sign it, the campaign to keep the service will be

strengthened. It seems extraordinary that MPs from as far away as Northern

Ireland recognise the importance of this while our own local MP refuses to do so.

EDM 48 would allow Local Authorities to invest in their housing stock,

which is of great importance to Council tenants in Oxford, who have voted

to keep their housing with the Local Authority. The more MPs sign it, the more

likely it is to result in positive change.

If Mr Smith does not have time to read these two Early Day Motions, I will

be more than happy to read both of them to him over the telephone in a

couple of minutes, and to explain their value and importance to him.

I am shocked that Mr McAndrews describes Mr Smith's voting record in

Parliament as 'more than acceptable.' Mr Smith has voted Tony Blair's line

in every single vote on the floor of the House of Commons, including the

decision to invade Iraq on false pretences which is still claiming so many

lives. I suggest that this is much less than acceptable.

Yours faithfully

Jacob Sanders

Oxford Green Party