Simpol-UK                            
Simultaneous Policy: Rediscovering the Sense of our Collective Humanity
PRESS RELEASE: 2nd April 2007
Cross-party support grows for citizens’ global governance campaign

The Simultaneous Policy (SP) campaign, aimed at addressing global problems such as climate change, unfair trade, global poverty and unsustainability, gained further support in Parliament today with two MPs joining the campaign. Tom Brake, Liberal Democrat MP for Carshalton & Wallington, and Martin Linton, Labour MP for Battersea, joined twenty-one 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).

Tom Brake



To avoid the fear all governments have that the unilateral implementation of stringent environmental controls would see capital and jobs moving elsewhere, the Simultaneous Policy is to be implemented simultaneously, only when all or sufficient governments have signed up. In this way, supporting SP poses no-risk to any nation’s international competitiveness and is helping to build international and cross-party support while opening the way to far more robust measures being adopted than those presently envisaged under agreements such as the Kyoto Protocol.

The SP’s range of global policies is being designed, not by political parties, but by thousands of citizens around the world who support SP, known as Adopters. To ensure sufficient international support for SP, Adopters undertake to vote in their respective national 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 those who do. With more parliamentary seats and even entire national elections being won or lost on fine margins, only a relatively small number of Adopters may be needed to make it in the vital interests of the main politicians and parties to support SP.

The fear of competitive disadvantage is rapidly being recognised as the key barrier to solving global warming and many other global problems. In the wake of the Stern report which urged all governments to act decisively to curb carbon emissions, the Financial Times (6th Dec. 06) noted that “…governments remain reluctant to address this threat because any country acting alone to curb its greenhouse gas emissions, without similar commitments by other governments, risks damaging the competitiveness of its industries.” As David Miliband, UK environment minister, confirmed: “There is a collective action problem internationally.”

Recognising the inability of governments to act, citizens around the world are adopting SP as a way to seize the political initiative and to drive even uncooperative governments towards the internationally co-operative solution that SP provides. Apart from the UK , support for SP extends to the EU and Australian parliaments and progress is being made in many other countries. SP is also supported by the prime minister of East Timor , Dr. José Ramos-Horta, by Eva Quistorp, co-founder of the German Green Party, and by many ecologists, activists and economists.

Adopting SP is free and can be done online. Please go to http://www.simpol.org/dossiers/dossier-UK/html-UK/how_do_i_adopt_sp-UK.html

For further information visit www.simpol.org (global site) and/or www.simpol.org.uk ( UK site) or contact Diana Trimble on the numbers below.

Simpol-UK  27 London Road, Bromley , BR1 1DF , UK

info(AT)simpol.org.uk   Tel +44 (0)20-8464 4141    Fax +44 (0)20-8460 2035