Information Alert from Media Watch UK
Hat-tip: Sheila BrownEarly Day Motions (EDMs) exist to allow Members of Parliament to put on record their opinion on a subject and canvass support for it from fellow members.
EDM No. 2140 was tabled on 22nd October 2009 by Lindsay Roy, MP for Glenrothes and Central Fife. It was co-sponsored by The Right Hon. Ann Widdecombe, MP for Maidstone and the Weald, and Sir Menzies Campbell, MP for North East Fife – giving strong support from all three main parties.
The Early Day Motion reads:
“That this House believes that politicians, retailers, publishers and distributors have a collective responsibility to protect children and young people from displays of sexually graphic material that they are not emotionally equipped to deal with; calls for an urgent review of existing guidelines drawn up between the Home Office and the National Federation of Retail Newsagents; further believes that such a review must consider the availability of sexually graphic publications to children and young people, the positioning of these publications on the shelves of retailers, the potential for concealing these publications in bags and consider the question of age-rating such publications; and further believes that failure to follow the revised guidelines could lead to calls for legislation covering all aspects of the availability and display of sexually graphic material to children and young people throughout the retail and publishing industries.”
You can check here to see if your MP has signed EDM 2140.
If not, please contact your MP to urge him/her to support this motion. The quickest way to do this is at www.writetothem.com. If you have a little more time, the most effective way to do this is to attend your MPs surgery to air your views, taking with you any evidence of shop displays you have seen which appear to be unsuitable for children, or a breach of the voluntary code.
Mediawatch-UK member, Amy King, has put a lot of work into making this happen with her Front Page Campaign – you can read more about it here.
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