Today
- The Listeners' Law poll
The
winner of the Today poll to suggest a new piece of legislation was
announced on the New Year's Day programme.
There
were a total of 26,007 votes - 17,829 telephone votes, 8,160 secure
email votes and the rest were other emails and faxes.
In
first place was a proposal to authorise homeowners to use any means
to defend their home from intruders - 37% of the vote.
Second
was a bill to allow the use of all organs for transplant after death
unless the individual has "opted out" and recorded that
opt out on an organ transplant register - 30% of the vote.
Third
was a proposal
to ban smoking in all workplaces, to include bars and restaurants
- 20% of the vote.
A double-headed
Bill which would have limited the number of terms a Prime Minister
can serve to two, and which would have made voting in General Elections
compulsory for all of voting age (subject to the provision of a
"No Vote" box on the ballot paper) was fourth in the poll
with 9% of the vote.
And
fifth was an idea to ban all Christmas advertising and the erection
of municipal street decorations before 1 December - 4% of the vote.
Miranda Holt, Today Programme Assistant Editor, said: "We're
delighted that twenty six thousand people voted in our Listener's
Law poll.
"The
winning one - the proposal to allow homeowners to use any means
to defend their home from intruders - was a controversial choice
- but won 37% of the vote.
"Now
we look forward to seeing whether the MP Stephen Pound succeeds
in persuading the 20 MPs who have been chosen to put forward Private
Members Bills to take up our listeners' proposal and make it law."
Notes
to Editors
Today
programme website
Today
programme Christmas poll invites listeners to re-write the laws
of the land (16.12.03)
All
the BBC's digital services are now available on Freeview,
the new free-to-view digital terrestrial television service, as well
as on satellite and cable. Freeview
offers the BBC's eight television channels, interactive services
from BBCi, as well as 11 national BBC radio networks.
|
