After we ran the opinion piece, Onewight Campaign: A Success?, we got in touch with the OneWight campaign to see if they wanted to put their point of view across. This is their response, from Ian Ward, in his own words – Ed.
As the coordinator of the OneWight Campaign I would like to thank VentnorBlog for the opportunity to respond to the letter from ‘ABC’ published on Tuesday about the aims of the OneWight Campaign.
The initial discussion about the boundary changes was attended by the MP, representatives from the three main political parties, the County Press, Isle of Wight Radio, and the Chamber of Commerce. The whole group resolved to campaign to prevent any part of the Island being linked to the mainland.
One MP or two MPs was an acceptable outcome
It was also agreed by everyone that arguing for the Island to remain as a single seat would be more likely to succeed than asking to be treated more favourably than the rest of the country. Either one MP or two MPs was an acceptable outcome – one and half certainly was not! This was also the approach followed by other (ultimately unsuccessful) campaigns such as ‘Keep Cornwall Whole’.
Thus the OneWight campaign was born. It gained support from thousands of individuals, organisations and businesses. Some people, even whilst signing the OneWight petition said they would prefer two MPs – but still signed because they did not want an MP representing both the Island and the mainland. We attracted lots of local, regional and national press coverage – even Newsnight came down to cover our campaign.
Amendment tabled in the Commons
Andrew Turner, with the support of the OneWight campaign group, tabled an amendment in the Commons for the Island to be either one or two whole constituencies, to be determined by the independent Boundary Commission. There was a great deal of support from MPs for this amendment – but due to a lack of time it did not get debated.
The Bill passed to the House of Lords, and Andrew Turner worked with Lord Fowler (Conservative) and Lord Oakeshott of Seagrove Bay (Liberal Democrat) to gain cross party support for the same amendment that he had tabled in the Commons. The Lords debated our amendment and passed it with a majority of 77 votes – giving the Government its biggest defeat to date. Incidentally, Cornwall lost their amendment by 29 votes.
The Bill was then due to go back to the Commons for the amendments to be debated again. Andrew Turner contacted the MPs from all parties who had promised they would support his amendment – including Ed Miliband, who had pledged the support of the entire Parliamentary Labour Party.
Last minute amendment
At the last minute, and just before the Bill went back to the Commons the Government (fearing failure and further delay) offered to amend the Bill to guarantee two MPs for the Isle of Wight. This very welcome compromise was accepted by both Lord Fowler and Andrew Turner who withdrew any further objections. The Bill was then finally passed in both the Commons and the Lords.
I firmly believe that if we had argued that the Island should be treated more favourably than other areas we would not have got the support we did in the Commons and the Lords – and the Boundary Commission would now be consulting on one part of the Island being included in a mainland constituency.
Genuinely cross-party
So, whilst I am glad that ABC (whoever he or she is) is pleased with the outcome, it is clear that it would never have happened without the OneWight campaign. It was genuinely cross-party, both locally and in the Commons and the Lords, and drew local people, businesses and organisations together in a common purpose.
It is not often that politicians put their party positions aside and genuinely work together for a common purpose. I am proud that happened here on the Island and that I played my part in that process. We won because we worked together to achieve something we believed in.
It is a great pity that some will always sit on the sidelines and snipe – that is the way of the world. But as our celebrated Prime Minister, Winston Churchill once said; “The truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is”.
