to think that your MP should be contactable by telephone or electronic media

[radiohelen]

I'm grumpy about this one. I watched Hugh's Fish Fight last night. Some of my family were driven out of the fishing industry in the 80s through EU rules, they had one of those pretty little fishing boats from Hastings that were on the show, so I feel quite strongly about fishing policy and watching all that discard catch being chucked over the side made me feel really quite sick and cross. So I decided to e-mail my MP - Liz Kendall, Leicester West.
Now I don't expect an immediate response. I don't expect much to be honest as we are about as far from the sea as is possible to get. I DO expect to be able to send her a non-generic e-mail on the subject. Twice I have had my e-mails bounced because of her spam filter. I understand the need for spam filters but FFS.....
So I thought OK I'll call to make my point. Her constituency phone message says she'll be back on 5th January?????? Her parliamentary office says call the constituency office. I left a message on the parliamentary office phone and I posted a comment on her webiste. I'm now off to post my letter to her.
We PAY these people to act in a professional manner. If my office was this crap I'd be up the swanney!

Thanks for reminding me of what I needed to do today.
I already knew about the fish dumping but hadn't really thought about it, I'm likening it to the fur trade now.
I'll go and see if I can contact Edward Timpson then I'll get back to you.

Well it appears that he is very accessible, Good Luck with yours!

There's a website that's something like "fax your mp". You search by location and it finds your mp and various councillors. After that you type in whatever you want sent and it does the rest. I've used it and had prompt replies in the past. Give it a try.

Probably safest way too - if you don't want to be stabbed or shot

You can email your MP, at least I can email mine - check out the They Work for You website. I prefer to write though, I feel it has more impact. I don't think MP's should give their numbers out to the public though - they would never get anything done at all.

callisto I CAN'T e-mail her. That's the point. Everything I send bounces on her spam filter. Snail mail seems the only way. I'll try the fax thing zeno suggests.

have you tried doing it through They Work For You?

www.theyworkforyou.com/mp/liz_kendall/leicester_west

The fishing quota is part of the Common Agricultural Policy so good luck with getting that changed! Desperately needs reforming though.

Finally managed it through writetothem.com!

YANBU.

My MP is Steve Pound and he's really easy to contact. He's Labour but actually increased his majority in the last election because his constituents love him. I'm not a Labour lover but I'll always vote for him. He works for his constituents and is more than happy to go out on a limb for individuals (my family included). I get the impression that a lot of MPs forget that they're there to represent their local people and that means being contactable.

I've used They Work for You before and it's pretty good.