“the Commons tell me this means he withdrew his signature..”
It would appear that Northern Ireland’s ultra-sceptical, and conspiratorial, Environment Minister, the DUP’s Sammy Wilson, has been trying to cover his formerly green [Early Day Motions] tracks.. As spotted by Mark Devenport
Whilst dwelling on green matters, I’d like to revisit my entry Green Sammy’s Debut 1. A few days after publishing it a reader pointed out that our Minister’s signature wasn’t on Early Day Motion 893 dealing with “Rainforests and Climate Change.” I thought I must be going crazy as I was sure I had spotted it. After checking with the parliamentary authorities, though, I gather that Sammy did sign the EDM. Clicking on the button which allows you to switch from “Open Signatures” to “All Signatures” reveals his name, and the Commons tell me this means he withdrew his signature (apparently on 26th June, 3 days after I published the blog).
As Mark says, “you can examine the EDM 893 on this link.” And Sammy Wilson is still a signatory of EDM 178 from 2005.. for now..
That this House agrees with the Government’s Chief Scientific Adviser that climate change is a threat to civilisation;
what scientific information did Sammy base this change of heart on? or did he think no one would notice
He’s a sneaky bastwich. (hope this escapes the man/ball rule, since it’s true).
Joe:
Trying to put the shit back in the bull in public view is hardly too sneaky, questionable intellect would seem more fitting.
Sammy better get used to having to squirm, I predict the self lampooning has only started.
I see Gregory Campbell and Nigel Dodds down there too but they don’t seem to have tried to remove their signatures.
Sammy has also signed a number of other interesting motions, including one on out-of-town shopping centres – interesting given the recent turning down of planning permission by his department of a Tesco on the edge of Banbridge and his prime ministerial responsibility for a Planning Policy Statement on this very issue (which has been much delayed).
Sammy’s signature is noted against EDM 1371 < http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=35615&SESSION=891> which called for “revision of Planning Policy Statement 6 [only relating to England], to retain key existing tests such as need, accessibility and scale and to strengthen planning policy for town centres and encourage a better mix of retail by also introducing a presumption against out of town retail development and new tests for diversity, local economic impact and carbon emissions.”
Wonder what will happen here…
Also EDM 449 on Beech Trees which stated:
“That this House believes that beech trees are an integral part of the British landscape; is dismayed that beech trees are at risk of disappearing from parts of the British Isles due to a combination of felling in the north and climate change in the south; further believes that beeches should be reclassified in Cumbria as new native in order to prevent their felling as non-native; and wishes to ensure that these trees will be around for the benefit of biodiversity and future generations.”
Also interesting given his first question in Stormont related to the illegal felling of trees and TPOs in general (remember the woeful DOE record on prosecutions).
Utterly pathetic.