The Digital Economy Bill was rushed through Parliament yesterday, through a somewhat unsavoury procedure called “wash-up“, designed to allow uncontroversial bills to be finalised in time for the end of a parliamentary session. The current parliament is due to be dissolved on Monday, with a general election now called for 6th May.

The problem here is firstly that the bill is far from uncontroversial – a 20,000 strong email campaign opposing it took place only this week, while industry bodies on both sides took out adverts in the national press to press their points. The BBC story about the “stitch-up” that allowed it to pass is currently the third most popular story in their Election 2010 section; no mean feat given that all eyes are now on the freshly-launched election campaigns.

Most damning however, is the lack of attendance in the Commons on the debate itself. As you can see from the BBC coverage, the House was hardly what one would call ‘bustling’. On a local note, here’s how MPs in my area performed:

• Rob Wilson (Conservative, Reading East): No show.
• John Redwood (Conservative, Wokingham): No show.
• Martin Salter (Labour, Reading West): Did actually attend, so some credit there, but voted in favour along party lines.

John Redwood did express his opposition to the Bill on his blog today, but it wasn’t until later in the comments that he explained he was in fact absent for both divisions of the debate, having given up any further opposition as a lost cause. He was present (and quite vocal) for the immediately preceding debate on the Finance Bill.

All of which reminds me of another Internet-related bill passed with very little fanfare almost a decade ago: The Regulation of Investigatory Powers bill, which passed with a mere 30 MPs present. Of course, the resulting law certainly hasn’t made headlines at all… has it?