It must be like winning the lottery. Just after 9am this morning, 20 MPs were chosen at random as the winners of the 2024 Private Members’ Bill Ballot process. Their names weren’t drawn out of a hat. Instead, it was a glass fishbowl full of numbered wooden balls.
A clerk in white gloves picked one ball after another, solemnly reading out the numbers on them. Each number corresponded to the name of a sitting MP.
The 20 lucky winners have a unique opportunity. Being selected in the Private Members’ Bill ballot gives them the ability to introduce any Bill of their choosing into the House of Commons. Each of the 20 Bills is allocated official parliamentary debate time, with those names at the top of the list most likely to get the most time; without fear of being bumped off the agenda by other Government business.
The Zero Hour team tuned into Parliament’s live webcast at 9am this morning. We watched as the names were drawn. It was a nerve-wracking moment. Would we get lucky and see one of the 170 Climate and Nature Bill supporters among the twenty MPs picked?
Would we get a supporting MP in the top ten? Or even the top seven?
The results proved more exciting than we could have possibly hoped for; with not one, but eight CAN Bill supporting MPs picked in the draw. Four of these MPs were in the top seven of the list and are guaranteed to secure debate time for their chosen Bill.
Forget Thunderball, this was an AMAZING RESULT!
You can see the full list of names below
Kim Leadbeater, Labour (Spen Valley)
Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrats (Cheltenham)
Dr Roz Savage, Liberal Democrats (South Cotswolds)
Clive Lewis, Labour (Norwich South)
Josh MacAlister, Labour (Whitehaven and Workington)
Dr Scott Arthur, Labour (Edinburgh South West)
Jim Allister, Traditional Unionist Voice (North Antrim)
Peter Lamb, Labour (Crawley)
Alex McIntyre, Labour (Gloucester)
Andrew Ranger, Labour (Wrexham)
Jake Richards, Labour (Rother Valley)
Tracy Gilbert, Labour (Edinburgh North and Leith)
Linsey Farnsworth, Labour (Amber Valley)
John Grady, Labour (Glasgow East)
Rachael Maskell, Labour (Co-op), (York Central)
Ruth Jones, Labour (Newport West and Islwyn),
Dr Danny Chambers, Liberal Democrats (Winchester)
Sarah Owen, Labour (Luton North)
Wendy Chamberlain, Liberal Democrats (North East Fife)
Dr Rupa Huq, Labour (Ealing Central and Acton)
So what happens next? As you can imagine, each of those twenty MPs is now in an enviable position. They can choose to champion any Bill, which means campaigners of all stripes are now queuing up to ask them to get behind their campaigns.
Of course, the Climate and Nature Bill isn’t like any other Bill. On Monday, we delivered a letter from over 1,150+ leading UK scientists – including five Nobel Laureates – calling on MPs to back the Climate and Nature Bill if they were successful in the ballot.
The scientists outlined that the CAN Bill is necessary to deal with the biggest existential threat humanity has ever faced. It is a threat that will engulf everything – from schools, to the NHS, to the economy, to our food supply – if we don’t act now. No other Bill is as important as this one.
As Chris Packham tweeted to Clive Lewis MP, who is one of the 20 Ballot winners (when Clive asked which Bill he should champion): ‘Backed by 1,000 experts, scientists and medical professionals, it’s got to be the Climate and Nature Bill!’
Between now and 14 October, the 20 lucky MPs will decide which Bill they want to introduce. At Zero Hour, we are encouraging constituents of those 20 MPs to reach out to them now – and ask them to champion the CAN Bill.
But if your MP isn’t one of the lucky twenty, you can still help us…
If your MP already supports the CAN Bill, please ask them to speak to their cross-party colleagues who are in the Ballot about introducing the CAN Bill.
If your MP isn’t yet supporting the CAN Bill, now is a great time to ask them about it. If the CAN Bill does get to a debate, it will need as many supporters inside the House of Commons as possible.
You can take action on our website. We know that every email and tweet helps build the buzz around the Bill – and right now the CAN Bill is at the most exciting moment in its history.
Which MP will step up and be the hero we need?
Watch this space…
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