I first wrote about Early Day Motion 747 at the end of 2012, you can read that blog here. The EDM is a simple request by back bench MPs asking the Government to repay its debt to the Big Lottery Fund. According to the EDM the Government borrowed  £425M to help with the expenditure on the Olympics (if you read the letter in response to Simon Kirby below it appears to be a whopping £675M) and promised to repay it when the venues were sold. Although these venues have not yet been sold, for a variety of commercial reasons, the expectation was that they would have been sold by now.

You can read more about the campaign here. The Government does have money in its reserves which could be used to pay off nearly 90% of the debt, and it is clear that charities and the causes they promote would benefit from the money right now, due to a range of financial pressures on the voluntary sector, and a significant increase in demand by vulnerable people. If you have any concerns about the idea of the Government using its reserves in this way, be reassured, Eric Pickles wants Local Government to use its reserves in a flexible manner so there is clear support for such an approach from the centre of Government.

I would like to see a response from all of the 16 Sussex MPs to this very sensible proposal that won’t cost the Government a penny yet ensures that charities are able to benefit from at least £377M straight away. In some cases MPs won’t or cannot sign EDMs and with these I would hope they will write to relevant Ministers to express their support for the repayment of the ‘loan’. To date five MPs have responded including two via twitter and two via facebook. The responses are below. I will update this blog with any subsequent responses:

Caroline Lucas (Brighton Pavilion) is the first Sussex MP to sign EDM 747 – thank you Caroline.

From Simon Kirby (Brighton Kemptown): @IanChisnall I don’t usually sign EDMs, but I have been happy to raise this with the Minister. I’ll be sure to send his response on to you. – I have now received this Letter via Simon – do read it, and then let it inspire you to contact your own MP and ask for a proper response! I have asked Simon to go back to the Minister.

From Tim Loughton (East Worthing & Shoreham) @IanChisnall Except I am afraid I do not sign EDMs – they are a waste of Parliamentary time and money I did send Tim a follow up to ask him to pursue the matter in other ways – so far no response!

I contacted Norman Baker (Lewes) via his facebook account and he has provided This Response.

Henry Smith (Crawley) responded via Facebook Ian, I don’t sign EDMs because they have no legislative effect yet cost about £1m pa to administer. Like Simon K I too raise issues instead by writing to the relevant Minister and will do in the case. Henry

I contacted Sir Peter Bottomley (West Worthing) via his twitter account. However he responded via email explaining that he does not use twitter and does not support the Early Day Motion and did not want to discuss the campaign any further.