UK Tues 5 June 2:30 pm - live on Parliament TV - Carol Monaghan to ask for debate on ME

I wonder if this is where she is speaking? (and if so I can't see where it is televised as only the main chamber seems to be on TV and the online versions shows the house of lords and westminster hall as well)

2.30 pm

Backbench Business - Oral Evidence Session
Proposals for backbench debates

Members of Parliament

Location: Room 16, Palace of Westminster

https://calendar.parliament.uk/calendar/Commons/All/2018/6/5/Daily
 
you have to click from the start there so it has already happened but you can see the presentation from Carol just listening now there are 6 MPs supporting this including Nicky Morgan there think I recognise Stephen Pound as well on the end but might be wrong

as ever when you get a group they werent entirely focussed. Carol was very focussed Nicky M very much on message and mentioned unrest

i think the other MPs going for debates were speaking solo so the fact that 6 MPs truly cross party should weigh in favour hopefully

very interesting what the chair said about knowing about ME through a friend who had been a semi-professional football player having it



although in typical British style one of the committee was saying well backbench time is limited we might not be able to offer a chamber debate any time soon but you could have a 3 hour westminster hall debate (same place as last time) within the next month. then if the government response isnt satisfactory option to have a chamber debate at a later date

Carol and Nicky pretty clear that chamber of the house was needed but if they got offered the westminster hall option they would accept if the option for chamber remained open

interesting that the presentations are recorded rather than behind closed doors although I assume the committee will do its discussions privately

I am hopeful
 
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Appears Carol and others have accepted offer of another Westminster hall debate, but this time lasting 3 hours, with the possibility of a commons debate in the autumn.
Not sure if this is a final decision.

Generally thought the MPs spoke well, and backbench committee appeared to want to support debate but felt Westminster hall as opposed to commons was right place first. Assuming it goes ahead this should happen within a month.
 
Thank you for the link @Gecko .@Andy, and any others.

I watched it and have just written to my MP to ask him to use his influence to progress the issue to a full debate. We have already had the WH debate in Feb. I don't know if it's usual to have more than one. Nicky Morgan spoke well again; glad Carol had backup. Another of her support group pointed out that far more than 250,000 are affected because families are severely affected by bedbound patients.

I was not sure that Carol clearly accepted the WH debate offer. Since it involves 2 government departments, Health and DWP, I thought an MP ( not known sorry) suggested it was better suited to the full chamber.

I thought the Chair seemed receptive but another MP on the Committee really pushed the WH offer hard so maybe this will prevail.

I am signed off to go on holiday tomorrow but couldn't resist this. Bye.....

ETA: I think it was Bob Blackman ( Cons) who was pushing the WH option. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Also: thanks also added to Andy and others for the link.
 
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Gecko said:
Just watched it here:
https://www.parliamentlive.tv/Event/Index/50fb53f3-c6ea-4848-8e5d-c00d6a52f005

She was first application so started at 14:30. Looks like you can still watch.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the link!

I just watched the meeting on Parliament Live from here in Los Angeles.

I sure appreciated the support of Carol Monaghan, Nicky Morgan, and Stephen Pound.

Does anyone know the names of the two gentlemen seated screen-left and screen-right of Carol Monaghan and the woman screen right of Stephen Pound? Is it correct to assume they are all MPs?

Bill
 
Binkie4 said:
Thank you for the link @Gecko .

I watched it and have just written to my MP to ask him to use his influence to progress the issue to a full debate. We have already had the WH debate in Feb. I don't know if it's usual to have more than one. Nicky Morgan spoke well again; glad Carol had backup. Another of her support group pointed out that far more than 250,000 are affected because families are severely affected by bedbound patients.

I was not sure that Carol clearly accepted the WH debate offer. Since it involves 2 government departments, Health and DWP, I thought an MP ( not known sorry) suggested it was better suited to the full chamber.

I thought the Chair seemed receptive but another MP on the Committee really pushed the WH offer hard so maybe this will prevail.

I am signed off to go on holiday tomorrow but couldn't resist this. Bye.....

ETA: I think it was Bob Blackman ( Cons) who was pushing the WH option. Please correct me if I am wrong.
Click to expand...

The MP that brought up the two departments issue was Stephen Pound.

I was extremely glad (by the way) that he brought up the point of the DWP as they are very much linked to this through their unique funding of PACE and the hell they put claimants with this condition through.
 
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Hopefully the MPs can succeed in making it clear that the BPS approach has totally failed and that there needs to be a fundamental change in academia and the healthcare system (not just in general approach that is BPS but also in terms of quality of studies). This must happen or we risk making no progress whatsoever. Making more funding and treatment available risks worsening the crisis rather than improving it!

Yes they said biomedical but the meaning of this word can be stretched. If you ask the functional neurological disorder people if they're studying biology they'd say yes! They're not wrong either, they're just making a lot of poorly supported interpretations with their biological data. And lots of biomedical research is of poor quality too.
 
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JohnTheJack said:
I'd like to know who else there was speaking with Carol. Anyone know?

From right:

Female
Stephen Pound
Carol
Male (sounded Welsh?)
Nicky Morgan
Male
Click to expand...

Think the woman could be Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East), but don't quote me on that! I think the final male on your list is Alex Chalk (Cheltenham). Not sure who the welsh guy is.

@Binkie4 True, Carol did say her preference would be a main chamber debate. Then also said a Westminster Hall debate with a main chamber one later would be acceptable as long as we got that main chamber debate.

Another thought, when Bob Blackman was pushing for WH debate, he asked what the aim of having a debate was other than to raise awareness. (Starts at 14:39:22).
Carol proposed two aims, firstly impressing upon them how important raising awareness is, both of politicians and with medical professionals, and secondly to call upon the government to take a more serious position in terms of biomedical research.
Although I agree with both of those things I worry the second is a little weak in that it doesn't define any concrete action, or give a target of so much funding to aim for in the next 2 years say..

Bob Blackman suggested by having another Westminster Hall debate the MPs could formulate a suitable motion calling on the government to actually do something that they could then bring back to the commons. My impression here was that this may actually be a fairly sensible suggestion, albeit frustrating that we would have to wait until the autumn for anything to get back to the commons.
 
Gecko said:
Think the woman could be Kerry McCarthy (Bristol East), but don't quote me on that! I think the final male on your list is Alex Chalk (Cheltenham). Not sure who the welsh guy is.

@Binkie4 True, Carol did say her preference would be a main chamber debate. Then also said a Westminster Hall debate with a main chamber one later would be acceptable as long as we got that main chamber debate.

Another thought, when Bob Blackman was pushing for WH debate, he asked what the aim of having a debate was other than to raise awareness. (Starts at 14:39:22).
Carol proposed two aims, firstly impressing upon them how important raising awareness is, both of politicians and with medical professionals, and secondly to call upon the government to take a more serious position in terms of biomedical research.
Although I agree with both of those things I worry the second is a little weak in that it doesn't define any concrete action, or give a target of so much funding to aim for in the next 2 years say..

Bob Blackman suggested by having another Westminster Hall debate the MPs could formulate a suitable motion calling on the government to actually do something that they could then bring back to the commons. My impression here was that this may actually be a fairly sensible suggestion, albeit frustrating that we would have to wait until the autumn for anything to get back to the commons.
Click to expand...

Kerry McCarthy it was. She did attend one of the ME APPG meetings once (minutes are online and her name may be mentioned as an attendee). Seemed to remember she may even have ended up chairing at one point due to absence of regular chair.

It would be in my notes (as I attended) but simply cannot find them at the moment.
 
@Gecko
I would need to think about your theory but I am going away in 12 hours time! It would be good to understand a bit more about the workings of Parliament; how the Parliamentary process can be used to progress our agenda. I think we need to use that. This is a big story.

I am not sure whether Bob Blackman was being helpful or just getting through his day's agenda. I tend to feel that while we have some momentum on our side, it would be good to continue going forward but maybe this is too optimistic. I see what you are suggesting but if it does stay at WH level, we must make sure we take it forward beyond the previous time.

I will see my MP once home again. I have also written to Nicky Morgan, and will continue to write when issues emerge.
 
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