Writing to your MP - does it work?

[terrywynne]

I see on here a lot of suggestions to write to your MP when people ask what they can do about climate change, the situation in Afghanisatan etc etc. But what if your MP has a comfortable majority and has always voted along party lines and never publicly criticised their party? Is there even any point writing? I can't see that they give a shiny shit about my thoughts (not a party supporter and disagree with a number of their parties policies). They don't need my vote (never see them, not even at election time) so it seems a bit pointless really.

Yes and no. Some MP’s are useless as others are helpful.

In my experience I have only found one that went above and beyond to help and take action and that was David Amess who truly was interested in helping others.

That was many years ago now and sadly he is not my MP.

I think the response you will get back very much depends on who your MP is and what their approach is to being asked questions/held to account. Right now, with our own MP, you could be forgiven for not wanting to bother: he is a bigoted, ignorant thug whose tone and language to constituents on social media is embarrassing. He then blocks them if they don't agree. I still write to him even if it's just to register my disgust at his approach.

Although it's hard to know, I would imagine, given your MP's history, you might get some bland, toes-the-party-line response that doesn't really offer much.

It doesn't mean you shouldn't write, though. Holding MPs to account is a vital part of the democratic process.

It doesn't hurt at all

You may not change their thinking but as you’re their constituent they have to acknowledge your letter/email and respond to you. It’s useful in that if lots of people contact them they become aware of public feeling on an issue, even if it might not change the way they vote on that issue.

Yes for our excellent Lib Dem MP. We were in a Tory area until recently and it was a real shift to get a new decent MP who actually listens and communicates with us. It’s been a breath of fresh air!

Frankly, it depends on the, MP. Mine, and I didn't vote for him, nor will I, is excellent locally and he/his office will always respond to a constituent. He won't be voting against or criticising his party any time soon though. Brexit substantially reduced his majority here so I suppose that keeps him on his toes. My sister's sits in a solid Tory area and his response to a query at a public meeting was "I don't have to be here. I've got a 25,000+ majority and I'm leaving now". However, you're paying them to hear your concerns. Do it.

Ive done it for smaller more local issues pretty successfully, but dont think i would ever bother for bigger global issues, because as you say, they are not likely to sway from the party line.

Not really. As PA, I wrote the replies to very specific letters. For everything else, there were standard replies, again written by myself, signed by the Member along with 50 others at the end of the day or pp by me if they were out.
While ago. May have changed. Doubt it.

I wrote to my (Labour) MP about something (can't even recall what) and he responded to say the Tory Party didn't have a good record either.

Not impressed to be honest.

As others have said you will probably get a standard reply. However, if a large majority of your constituents are all, for example, pleading with you to do something about climate change, then it will at least be in the forefront of their minds (even temporarily). It really can't hurt. I have emailed mine on the subject (and have previously on other subjects).

Depends who your mp is. I used to live in a constituency with an amazing mp who went to extraordinary efforts over individual cases but my local mp now is useless which is odd as they don't have a huge majority, but scrape in every time.

@BlueLobelia

I wrote to my (Labour) MP about something (can't even recall what) and he responded to say the Tory Party didn't have a good record either.

Not impressed to be honest.

anyway - that's just my experience. Our Mp has the reputation for being very proactive locally. Personally I think he just has a good PR machine.

Depends on the MP.

My last Tory MP was actually a good constituency MP, despite being a Tory. I despised her politics for the most part, but I will concede that she dealt with constituents' issues very effectively and engaged in a meaningful way on wider issues if they were raised with her. I rarely agreed with her, but I could at least respect her and I knew that she would listen.

My current Tory MP is about as much use as a chocolate teapot. She tows the party line unthinkingly, it would seem, and she gives bland meaningless responses. I don't think she reads her correspondence at all, just gets her minions to send a standard reply. She is more interested in holding office, apparently, than in actually serving the constituency.

Our local MP is useless. I still write to him. I'm more likely to get a response to a paper and pen letter than an email. The replies are always blame shifting waffle. But I do send copies of the letter to the department responsible for the issue, the PMs office and sometimes the chancellor.
Our current PM is hugely swayed by public opinion so be noisy!

My MP is a legend - she’s very aware of issues and involved in causes but her inbox is off the scale busy so I don’t know if all correspondence can be dealt with satisfactorily.
I think she also hangs out on here if she (unusually) has a spare second.

My (Tory) MP did not even bother to reply when I emailed him (twice). Not even a standard reply.
He's no longer an MP thankfully.

Mine is a cunty conservative waffle-bag who is so far up the party’s arse that he simply fails to see sense

I’ve written to him several times. If nothing else it will serve to show how little notice he paid to his constituents when history visits his (in)actions

@aureliacotta Lee Anderson?

My MP conviently loses any letters or emails that don't agree with his pretty abhorrent views. There is absolutely no point in contacting him.

I find it useful for smaller local issues e.g. where I live we were heavily impacted by train strikes, and it was good to hear that my MP WAS going to meetings and asking for action with deadlines. And they know how many constituents are directly affected.

I think I'll be writing to mine to say I'll support strong action on climate change even if it inconveniences me.

• conveniently

It depends on the MP. Mine who is a Tory I wrote to suggesting they do not support Boris Johnson for leader in 2019, and gave positive reasons for supporting other candidates, but they still supported the man who has ended up being the worst Prime Minister in UK history.

Every time I have written to my MP I have had a considered response.

I was impressed a couple of years ago when I was stuck in Burkina Faso as the Ghanian embassy refused to give me a visa despite having all the correct documentation. I asked my MP for a character reference to help move things along. We had not actually met but he put together a 'to whom it may concern' letter advising the reader what a fine person I was and how I was in good standing with her majesty's government etc, all on house of commons paper. Visa was issued the next day.

If enough people write about climate change then the MP may realise it is an issue they need to pay attention to if they want to remain an MP. It may not work but it is one of the few tools we have especially between elections.

CorrBlimey no, but have seen him retweet Lee Anderson in agreement, though, so they're clearly cut from the same cloth. It's difficult to believe, but our MP is worse. Former red wall constituency and focus of the 2019 election for embodying the type of swing voter that would determine the outcome of the election.

As you can see, I don't even want to name him - he is that petty that I think he'd get any negative mention of his name deleted!

Ours still finds time to be a city councillor as well as a constituency MP.
He's completely useless at both, I gather, but has a massive majority. He also blatantly broke lockdown rules but got away with it.