Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 December 1973.
Mr Thomas Swain
, North East Derbyshire
12:00,
20 December 1973
Will the right hon. Gentleman find time to debate in the not-too-distant future Early Day Motion No. 116.
An Early Day Motion (EDM) is a motion put down, or tabled, on the order paper by a group of Members of Parliament calling for a debate on a particular subject.
In recent years the increasing number of EDMs has meant that time is very rarely found for them to be debated.
The modern-day purpose of EDMs is to allow MPs to express their opinion on a subject and to canvass support for their views by inviting other members to add their signatures in support of the motion.
As a general rule, EDMs will only be debated if they can gain the support of over half the MPs in the House.
