EDM 654 - final story

With the General Election called for 6 May the Parliamentary session comes to an end.

The RSPB's campaign for protection of birds of prey, and enforcement of the law so that they are properly protected, attracted over 210,000 signatures from members of the public - our largest-ever haul of signatures for a petition.  Our campaign does not come to an end but we know that we will be dealing with a very different set of MPs after the General Election.

For the last few weeks MPs have been supporting our campaign by signing Early Day Motion 654, which is worded as follows:

That this House congratulates the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds on acquiring over 200,000 signatories to its campaign to end the illegal killing of birds of prey; recognises the depth of public support this shows for more action to be taken to protect birds of prey; further recognises the socio-economic benefits healthy bird of prey populations can bring to rural communities; notes that the shooting, poisoning and other destruction of magnificent species including hen harriers, golden eagles and peregrine falcons remains unacceptably common; acknowledges that such persecution represents a major impediment towards the recovery of such species to their historic levels; and calls on the Government to make ending the illegal killing of these iconic birds a greater priority

160 MPs supported EDM 654 - making it the 35th most supported EDM (out of 1,315) of this parliamentary session.  We are delighted at the level of cross-party support .  I'll let you know how many of the signing MPs get back into parliament after the General Election!

The MPs who signed were:

Conservatives: Alistair Burt (co-Sponsor), Peter Bottomley, Andrew Rosindell, Andrew Selous, Michael Mates, Francis Maude, Simon Burns, David TC Davies, James Gray, Angela Watkinson, Stephen Crabb, Stephen Hammond, David Jones, Michael Fabricant, Ben Wallace, Richard Benyon, Graham Stuart, Ed Vaizey, Chloe Smith, David Davis, Edward Garnier, Tim Yeo, David Amess, Daniel Kawczynski, Oliver Heald,   Philip Davies, Eleanor Laing, Mike Penning, Cheryl Gillan, Gary Streeter, David Burrowes, Andrew Murrison, Keith Simpson, John Hayes, David Ruffley, Edward Leigh, Brian Binley, Brooks Newmark, Greg Hands (39 out of a total of 193)

Democratic Unionist:   David Simpson, Gregory Campbell, Jeffrey Donaldson, Nigel Dodds (4 out of a total of 8)

Independent:   Bob Spink, Dai Davies (2 out of 8)

Labour:  Angela Smith (Sponsor), Lindsay Hoyle, Stephen Hepburn, Joan Humble, Chris McCafferty, John McDonnell, Laura Moffatt, Ronnie Campbell, Janet Dean, Andrew Dismore, David Drew, Paul Truswell,  Desmond Turner, Robert N Wareing, Brian Jenkins, Alan Meale, Edward O'Hara, Martin Caton, Jeremy Corbyn, Neil Gerrard, John Battle, Keith Vaz, David Lepper, Bill Etherington, Betty Williams, Alan Simpson, Ann Cryer, Graham Stringer, Rudi Vis, Harry Cohen, David Anderson, Lindsay Roy, Greg Pope, David Crausby, Paul Flynn, David Heyes, Anne Begg, Gwyn Prosser, Dennis Skinner, Jim Hood, Colin Burgon,  Colin Challen, Diane Abbott, Paddy Tipping, Derek Twigg, James Plaskitt, Geraldine Smith, Gerald Kaufman, Fraser Kemp, Michael Connarty, Jim Cousins, Janet Anderson, Parmjit Dhanda, Tom Harris, Martyn Jones, Doug Naysmith, John Austin, Joan Walley, Mohammad Sarwar, Phyllis Starkey, Tom Levitt, Andrew Miller, Richard Caborn, Ian Stewart, Kim Howells, Ian Cawsey, Nick Ainger, Kevin Barron, Tony Lloyd, Linda Riordan, Hugh Bayley, Julie Morgan, Shona McIsaac  (73 out of a total of 346)

Liberal Democrats:   Norman Baker (co-Sponsor), Andrew George, Paul Holmes,  Mike Hancock, Phil Willis,  John Leech, John Hemming,  Mark Hunter,  Annette Brooke,  Lorely Burt,  Andrew Stunell,  John Barrett, Richard Younger-Ross, Adrian Sanders, Lembit Opik,  Roger Williams, Timothy Farron, Bob Russell, Charles Kennedy, Vince Cable, Mark Williams,  Michael Moore, Evan Harris, Menzies Campbell, John Thurso, Greg Mulholland, Paul Keetch, Don Foster, Julia Goldsworthy, Stephen Williams, Edward Davey, Steve Webb, Martin Horwood, Jeremy Browne, Norman Lamb, Matthew Taylor, Jenny Willot,  Paul Burstow (38 out of a total of 63)

Plaid Cymru: Hywel Williams, Elfyn Llwyd (2 out of a total of 3)

Social Democratic and Labour Party: Eddie McGrady, Mark Durkan (2 out of a total of 3)