I wrote to Mr Rob Wilson, formerly MP for Reading East about his no-show for the Digital Economy Bill. This was the response:
Dear Mr David Miller,
Thank you for contact[sic] me about the Digital Economy Bill.
I would like to make it clear that this Bill is a piece of legislation introduced by the Labour Government, without prior discussion with my party. As the Labour Party was elected to Government in 2005, it dictates the legislative programme and has the mandate provided by the electorate to pass such bills – without opposition support if that is the case.
Conservatives took the decision to seek to remove those clauses of the Digital Economy Bill that we did not support or feel received proper legislative scrutiny. We were successful in several areas in this respect.
Even if every single Conservative and Liberal Democrat MP voted against the Bill, it still would have passed if every Labour MP had turned up to vote – regretfully it was Labour that was elected to Government back in 2005 with a majority of 66, not the Conservative Party.
My party has pledged that, if we are elected to Government on May 6th this year, we will revisit the Bill and look at alternative options for a balanced solution as part of a broader update of copyright.
Whilst I appreciate that this does not detract from the distasteful way in which this Bill was rushed through by Labour, I hope that it does offer some indication that we will not let matters rest.
I shall be continuing the conversation…