Dear Marsha Singh,
Thank you very much for coming to meet us the other week when we were in London to express our concerns about the arms trade. I was glad to hear you agree, in principle, that advertising of so called “British” arms should not be funded by the tax payer. I am, of course, still pleased that Gordon Brown’s government took the decision to close DESO; but I’m a little disappointed that, in this time when all parties are scouring the public sector for anything they can cut, a pledge to similarly consign UKTI DSO to history has not been one of Labour’s election promises. When there are so many public services that need to be protected, the one department that’s actually offensive to common decency would seem a good one to scrap.
I also wanted to write and find out your thoughts on the other main issue concerning me in the run up to this election—the Digital Economy Bill. I have heard the government plans to rush this bill through before the election without proper scrutiny. This would be a travesty of democracy, as well as the last thing the real digital economy needs. I urge you to do all that is within your power to prevent this. I feel so strongly about this that I would seriously consider voting for the Pirate Party should they field a candidate in Bradford West, as they are the only party to have made sensible, modern manifesto commitments on intellectual property issues. Within your own party however, your colleague Tom Watson, member for West Bromwich East, is much more reasonable and, should your views fall near his, I would hope you might figure out a way of putting a stop this insane power grab by the Business Secretary and the music industry lobby.