Simpol-UK
Simultaneous Policy: Rediscovering the Sense of our Collective Humanity
PRESS RELEASE: 29th September 2006
Global justice campaign builds further support in UK Parliament


The Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign, aimed at addressing global problems such as climate change, unfair trade and unsustainability, has gained further support in Parliament. Richard Younger-Ross, Liberal Democrat MP for Teignbridge, added his name to fifteen other MPs from all the main UK political parties who have signed a pledge to implement SP alongside other governments. (See website for full list).


Concerned at the inability of politicians to solve global problems, the Simultaneous Policy is a package of measures being developed around the world by citizens, known as SP Adopters. SP is to be implemented simultaneously, only when all or sufficient governments have signed up, thus removing governments’ fear that their nation would become uncompetitive, losing investment and jobs, if they took unilateral action. In this way, supporting SP is no-risk and is helping to build international and cross-party support while opening the way to more robust measures being adopted than those presently envisaged under agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol.

While MPs are encouraged to support SP on its merits, Adopters undertake to vote at elections for any candidate, within reason, who has signed the pledge to implement SP alongside other governments, or to encourage their preferred party to support SP. In this way, politicians who fail to support SP risk losing their seats to politicians who do. In some constituencies at the last election, the number of Adopters was high enough to cause all the main competing candidates to sign the pledge, ensuring support for SP in Parliament regardless of which party won the seat. Because all parties in government must maintain their nation’s competitiveness, they are unable to take substantive action on global issues. Citizens in all democratic countries are therefore seeing SP as a way to seize the political initiative and to drive even uncooperative politicians and governments towards the internationally co-operative solution that SP provides.

In Australia where the campaign started only recently, 59 candidates signed the pledge during the election in 2004, bringing support for SP into the senate. East Timor ’s Prime Minister and Nobel Peace Prize winner, José Ramos Horta, has also given his support as well as some Members of the European Parliament. The campaign is co-ordinated by the International Simultaneous Policy Organisations (ISPO) and has Adopters in many countries who are in the process of forming national and local campaign groups.

For further information visit http://www.simpol.org (global site) and/or http://www.simpol.org.uk ( UK site) or contact Mike Brady on 07986 736179.


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