Ed Balls Photo: Jarvin
The e-petition for compulsory financial education never did make much sense. It is not getting any better after promoter Martin Lewis claimed his latest champion. Lewis, founder of bargain-hunters’ website moneysaving expert, says 200 MPs have signed the petition. That’s getting on for a third of all MPs in the Commons. Today he reveals that shadow chancellor Ed Balls is a supporter.
Bear in mind that the point of the e-petition is to secure a parliamentary debate. If 200-plus MPs, including the shadow chancellor, lack the influence, ability or nous between them to organise even a parliamentary debate… they must be the most clueless bunch of legislators imaginable.
It doesn’t make sense. Legislators don’t try to influence policy by signing petitions set up by the public. It’s absurd. Someone is mocking someone.
It could be argued that the e-petition is necessary and useful as a litmus-test of public opinion. If a high proportion of the public back a move, MPs ought not to ignore it. The trouble is that the moneysaving expert numbers don’t look very good. Currently 64,000 people have signed the e-petition, which was launched over a month ago. The moneysaving expert website claims that 8 million people from the UK visit the site every month. In other words, the support among Martin Lewis’s loyal followers is around 0.8 per cent. The petition is not backed by 99.2 per cent of those who visit his website. What kind of mandate is that?
