Ian Cawsey

From Skeptical Voter Wiki

Ian Cawsey was the Labour MP for Brigg and Goole from May 1997 until his defeat by Andrew Percy at the 2010 general election.

During his time as an MP he sat on the Science and Technology Select Committee.

Contents 1 Abortion 2 Libel Law Reform 3 Charles Darwin 4 Homeopathy 5 References 6 External Links

Abortion

In May 2008 in the abortion amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill (now Act), Ian Cawsey voted to keep the current time limit of 24 weeks in line with the scientific and medical consensus^[1].

Libel Law Reform

In December 2009, Ian Cawsey signed Early Day Motion 423 calling for a reform of the English libel law^[2]. The motion noted that human rights activists, scientists, writers and journalists are currently prevented from publishing, and the public prevented from reading, matters of strong public interest due to the chilling effect of the law.

The motion was tabled following the recent formation of Libel Reform Coalition, which has the backing of Index on Censorship, English PEN and Sense about Science. Sense about Science have been campaigning in defense of a member of its board of trustees, author and journalist Simon Singh, who has been sued for libel by the British Chiropractic Association. They issued a statement entitled "The law has no place in scientific disputes".

Charles Darwin

Ian Cawsey was one of 79 MPs who signed Early Day Motion 377 noting the achievements of Charles Darwin, and calling for Darwin's birthday to be designated a public holiday to honour "one of the fathers of modern science and one of Britain's greatest, if not the greatest, scientific minds."

Homeopathy

Cawsey was on the committee of the 2010 Science and Technology Committee "Evidence Check" report on Homeopathy^[3]. The final report was extremely critical of the use of homeopathy within the NHS, and the formal minutes show that Cawsey voted in favour of the report being published in this form^[4].

References

1. ↑ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200607/cmselect/cmsctech/1045/104502.htm
2. ↑ http://www.parliament.uk/edm/2009-10/423
3. ↑ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4502.htm
4. ↑ http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmsctech/45/4508.htm

External Links

• http://www.iancawsey.co.uk/
• http://twitter.com/iancawsey
• http://www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/?pid=10097
• http://www.publicwhip.org.uk/mp.php?id=uk.org.publicwhip/member/1452
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_Cawsey

Why not help us expand this page with more details of this politician's positions on sceptical issues?

• E-Mail them to ask for their opinions (and tell us about it by editing this page!)
• Check their voting record and other details on TheyWorkForYou.com and edit this page to add them!
• Check for information at the External Links listed above.
• Search the media for mentions of them and their positions on issues.
• Use your own brilliant ideas to find out about what this MP thinks - but make sure you can back them up with a citation!