E-petitions website 'misleading

The Government's e-petitions site is "misleading" people about their chances of influencing policy, MPs have said.

The website creates "unrealistically high" expectations for the impact of submissions and should be changed, according to the Commons Procedure Committee.

The e-petitions system was set up by the coalition last summer to make it easier for the public to make representations. When more than 100,000 signatures have been gathered, the House's Backbench Business Committee is notified and has the power to timetable a parliamentary debate.

So far discussions have been triggered on issues such as stripping benefits from rioters, disclosing official documents about the Hillsborough disaster and scrapping fuel duty rises.

In a report, the Procedure Committee said it welcomed the scheme's potential for engaging the public. It called for more parliamentary time to be allocated for debates on e-petitions, suggesting additional sessions could take place between 4.30pm and 7.30pm on Mondays in Westminster Hall.

However, the MPs also criticised the website for stating that e-petitions were "an easy way for you to influence government policy". They agreed with the chair of the Backbench Business Committee, Natascha Engel, that the wording was "deeply misleading".

"It is wrong for the Government to raise petitioners' expectations of the e-petitions process to unrealistically high levels," the report said. "E-petitions may be an easy way to raise awareness of an issue, to receive a response from the Government to a particular concern, or even to have a matter debated in Parliament. They are not, and should not be claimed to be, an easy way to change Government policy or legislation."

A report has called for more parliamentary time to be allocated for debates on e-petitions

The committee proposed changing the site's wording to "an easy way for you to make sure your concerns are heard by Government and Parliament". They also voiced concerns about the statement that e-petitions collecting more than 100,000 signatures would be "eligible for debate in the House of Commons". Instead the line should say that when the threshold is reached "the Government will ask the Backbench Business Committee of the House of Commons to consider scheduling a debate on it in the House".

Responding to the report, Leader of the Commons Sir George Young said the system had been a "great success", adding: "More than three million people have signed e-petitions since the system was set up, and it has enabled the strong views of hundreds of thousands of them to be debated by MPs in the House of Commons. It is clear that several of these debates have had a real influence over Government policy.

"We welcome the report of the Procedure Committee as a valuable contribution towards improving the public's engagement with the work of the Commons. We will consider the detailed recommendations of the committee's report in that context, and issue a response in the usual way in due course."

Hague says will work with new Islamic govts

Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday pledged to support governments elected in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, despite "legitimate concerns" over the rise of parties rooted in Islam.

Writing in The Times, Hague argued that the recent success enjoyed by religious parties did not mean the Arab Spring had turned into a "cold winter", warning that bad governance would again force demonstrators onto the streets.

"It is true that parties drawing their inspiration from Islam have done better at the polls than secular parties and there are legitimate concerns about what this will mean," Hague wrote in Friday's edition.

"We must respect these choices while upholding our own principles of human rights and freedom and urging the highest standards," he added. "The true test of these governments will be how they act in office."

The former Tory leader warned that expressing favour for certain parties or philosophies in the ongoing series of Middle East elections would "fatally undermine faith in our intentions and our support for democracy."

Foreign Secretary William Hague on Friday pledged to support governments elected in the wake of the Arab Spring uprisings, despite "legitimate concerns" over the rise of parties rooted in Islam

Prime Minister David Cameron avoided meeting with officials from Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood during a visit last year, calling them "extreme", but london now seems keen to build bridges after the party's strong showing in recent polls.

Hague vowed to "redouble our diplomatic and long-term support to the region", saying that the Arab Spring was "always going to be a long process, not an instant fix".

The minister predicted a bumpy ride ahead for the region, pointing to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's violent crackdown on protesters.

The government remains devoted to supporting the Arab League in its attempts to broker an end to the Syrian violence while maintaining economic and diplomatic pressure on the regime, stressed Hague.

Britain was at the forefront of international efforts to support Libya's rebels against then leader Moamer Kadhafi, and was one of the first countries alongside France and the US to launch military action under a UN mandate in March.

©AFP

WELSH MPS FACE 25% SEAT CUTS

Welsh MPs are braced for proposals being announced tomorrow to slash their ranks by 25%.

The Boundary Commission for Wales will be spelling out how it plans to reduce the number of the principality's Westminster constituencies from 40 to 30.

This is part of a UK-wide package to cut the MPs' total to 600, down from the current 650, in a coalition Government bid to iron out discrepancies.

Commissioners are required to keep constituency electorates within 5% of the UK average - with a 72,810 floor and an 80,473 ceiling.

Welsh rural constituencies could be among the most vulnerable under the changes in contrast to elsewhere in the UK where urban areas have tended to lose out.

North west Wales currently returns MPs for Aberconwy, Arfon, Clwyd West, Dwyfor Meirionnydd and Ynys Mon but their combined electorates would only qualify for three seats under the rules imposed on the commission.

Ynys Mon is not protected by its island status and, unlike the Isle of Wight, Na h-Eileanan an Iar and Orkney and Shetland, will have to take in territory from the mainland.

It will be difficult for media, political and academic experts to make definitive predictions of the shake-up's effect on party performance until at least 2013.

The speeded-up consultation and review process will involve examination by the commission of written representations on its initial proposals and comments in public hearings.

It will then produce revised plans.

Further written representations will be considered on these before the commission draws up final recommendations.

Final reports have to be sent to Parliament by October 2013.

Provisional proposals for England, Scotland and Northern Ireland were announced last year.