On Friday, the House of Commons votes on the second reading of a Private Members’ Bill that’s been introduced by Lib Dem MP Michael Moore. The Bill is short and sweet and puts into law a commitment to spend 0.7 per cent of GNI on international development. Because of the way parliament works, 100 MPs are required to turn up and vote for it, in order to prevent just one MP objecting to it and killing it off. At the moment, it’s too close to call.
The idea was first floated by Gordon Brown in his speech to Labour conference in 2009 and became a pledge in all three parties’ manifestos. The commitment was repeated in the Coalition Agreement but after four years, the government has still not been able to find parliamentary time to introduce its own bill. So backbench MPs have been left to make their own attempts. Labour MP Mark Hendricks tried last year but fell at the same hurdle.
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