To think it should actually be possible to contact my local MP?

[RollingThunder]

I have tried, first I emailed him about an issue months ago - no response.

Then I left a voicmail message for him this was a polite, but distressed message about changes to funding, and my sons SN. NO response to that either!

This is ludicrous - I am unable to get hold of my local MP - or rather, he doesn't respond to anything! -

Any suggestions? Anyways of actually getting hold of them? I can't see anything on his website about local surgeries, so no way of just turning up - have phoned the phone number, and left message, no response, have emailed. Don't know what else to do?

[cozietoesie]

To be fair, Glossy, some emails do get deleted by mistake/go to spam etc etc. Never leave it at just one.

[whathasthecatdonenow]

It is shocking that it has taken this length of time and that much work to get a response.

I'm active in local politics and have helped out in the constituency office. Everyone got a reply asap, including people who thought they were being spied on by the government via their microwaves.

[Glossynotflossy]

I emailed mine over a year ago.no reaponse.ynbu they are paid to serve and thats waht they should so

[MrsTerrysChocolateOrange]

I know you are dealing with this now but another suggestion is www.writetothem.com/

My MP has always got back to me after using this and they monitor whether your MP responds.

[RollingThunder]

We shall see if it has any impact but at least I have a number to call them on now if nothing happens

[RollingThunder]

Thank you very much everyone for your input and suggestions. I left a voicemail at our local Conservative party and someone phoned me back within an hour with a direct number to his office manager!

I have now spoken to his office manager and apparently the case worker will phone me on mon or tue and they will contact the minister responsible next week!!!

[BackforGood]

It does sound bad. Totally the opposite of our MP, who has an excellent reputation in the constituency for being an excellent constituency MP - may well be why he is one of the longest serving MPs in the house!

[idococktailshedoesbeer]

This doesn't sound good enough to me and it's a shame because there are some great MPs out there.

There was a furore a couple of years ago when a local paper exposed the "laziest MP in Britain" (hope this isn't yours!) so your local rag may be able to help.

www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/2011/09/06/are-teessiders-getting-enough-from-sir-stuart-bell-84229-29370793/

Also have a look if they are on Twitter, if so tweet them about their lack of response. I'd copy in their party's Twitter feed on there too, to make sure they know what's going on. Complaining on Twitter has always worked for me.

[JamesBexleySpeed]

I cross-posted, I didn't see the post about the SEN at the time.
I wasn't agreeing with the possibility that my suggestion was correct.

Unfortunately I have to deal with MPs in my job, as a direct result of complaints from their constituents, and I know that some just ignore stuff, without even bothering to respond that the matter is a local authority issue, not central government.

[Crinkle77]

God that's terrible. I e-mailed my MP once and had a response after about an hour. I was very impressed to say the least.

[FloraPost]

The whips won't care. MPs aren't actually obliged to do casework foor individual constituents, although almost all do. That isn't to say it's reasonable for the MP not to have replied to you.

I completely understand your worry OP (I have a DS with SEN too) but I think the Christmas break will have got in the way. They probably have a backlog anyway which will have built up over Christmas - lots of homelessness and DV cases come in then. I was an MP's caseworker for 5 years and it's impossible to keep up with demand although we tried our very best. I think you should keep contacting the office (HoC switchboard is 020 7219 3000) and ask to speak to your MP's caseworker.

The standard e-mail format is surname [email protected] , eg. [email protected]. All MPs have that one so it will reach him.

It's not correct to say that they hand constituency letters over to civil servants (unless the issue concerns a ministerial brief they hold); the separation of duties between parliament and government means they can't do that. They might seek to clarify policy via a government department but the reply, including what he thinks, should be from the MP. If it isn't, get back to him and say it's not good enough.

MPs and councillors have different remits and responsibilities. If your problem is with government policy there's no point contacting a councillor - not their sphere of influence. If it's about an LEA service your DS should be getting but isn't, the councillor is the right person.

I'd love to know which MP employed a secretary for 3 hours per day and only showed his face every year and a half. My working days were more like 7am - 8pm (10pm on Fridays when we had constituency surgery) plus most Saturdays and I saw or spoke to my boss most days. I left because I was completely burnt out.

[Peanutbutterfingers]

Completely out of order and you should complain via party. I used to work for an MP in a busy urban seat. He had 3 full time case workers and every message was returned even if to say sorry, this isn't something we can help with.

[Vagaceratops]

Maybe they were sufficiently unimpressed by your complaint to not want to respond to you

But they have secretaries.

I have contacted my own (Labour) MP about similar things to the OP, and have always had a 'first response' letter sent from a secretary, with a follow up response about a month later from our MP (on lovely HOP paper)

[Vagaceratops]

Thanks Cozie - had only skimmed

My Mum had the same problem, she lives in a strong Tory seat and her MP (Alan Hazelhurst) was about as much use as a chocolate teapot when she had problems with her housing benefit when she lost her job).

[cozietoesie]

Vagaceratopcs

Conservative in a strongly conservative area - from OP's previous posts.

[TiaMariaandEggnog]

Write to him asking for him to make enquires on your behalf about the issue. Cc it to the relevant Minister at cabinet level. Once a letter is cc`d it tends to become more important to politicians, as someone else is aware of it too (& in this case will expect him to be writing to them) also written correspondence to government departments tend to have time limits for them to issue a reply, while those to politicians don't. Good luck! :)

[Vagaceratops]

Can you tell us which party he/she is from?

It is always easier to get contact from a MP if they are in opposition IME.

[Notquite]

Good luck, hope he gets his come-uppance one day at the polls, but it sounds unlikely...

[OeufsEnCocotte]

X-post with ArtigeneAuberchoke

[OeufsEnCocotte]

That's not a bad idea from HollyBerryBush :D

Or you could call/email his local political party's office (not normally the same contact details as the constituency office) eg Anytown Conservative Party office if he's a Tory etc.

Otherwise definitely name and shame via the local press - you don't have to go into personal details, you can just point out that it's impossible to contact him and that you feel very let down and not properly represented.

[RollingThunder]

Chair of local party is a good one - will probably copy in chief whip - as why the heck not?

ArtigeneAuberchoke - that is def the next step - just hoping it doesn't come to that! - is not a minister - but I am sure local press etc would be interested - but dont' watn to put all this in the public domain (unless I have to and then I really will go for it!)

[ArtigeneAuberchoke]

Chief Whip wont care, his job is to get MPs to toe the party line, Chair of local party is a better bet.

[ArtigeneAuberchoke]

Embarrass him into responding: write letters about his crap communication to your local paper, local news, post on local community forums etc. Is he high profile (eg a Minister) if so try the national press.

[HollyBerryBush]

brain wave moment<

Write to his chief whip, complaining!