As your Member of Parliament, I am elected to represent the interests and concerns of my constituents in the House of Commons on a wide range of national and local issues. This section contains my thoughts on the national policy issues of importance this year. As you would expect, I am generally canvassed on policy issues from both sides of the argument so, when considering the concerns raised, my response on most things must by necessity be a balanced view.
Members of Parliament now receive hundreds of campaign-generated emails each month. Often, several hundred identical emails will be received on a single topic. I am certainly keen to understand local concerns on issues of policy and will always keep these in mind for when I next meet with the relevant minister. Where appropriate, I will also make a direct approach to Government to raise an issue if I feel this might help to resolve it.
However, due to the large number of template campaign emails I now receive, I have taken the decision, in common with other MPs, that if work pressures prevent me from responding individually to every campaign, I will place my response on my website where everyone, including those who wrote to me directly, can see it. In this way, I will be able to focus my time on attending debates and committees as well as meeting ministers to raise issues of concern or to speak up for the constituency. It will also allow me and my staff the time to assist where we can with the urgent individual cases which are raised with an MP each day – housing issues, repatriations, benefit concerns and so on.
Responses to all campaigns can be found via the links on the left, with past responses available in the yearly archives.