To expect a response from my MP within a month?

[MrsBennetsPoorNerves]

I wrote to my MP a month ago to express my concern about something. It wasn't a request for help with a personal issue but rather a concern regarding a national issue. AIBU to expect to receive something back from my elected representative within a month of writing to him?

To pre-empt any questions, I included my full address and postcode in the email, so he should be clear that I am a constituent. I used the correct email address. My email was polite and respectful, and I wrote it myself (i.e. not a cut & paste job).

I do appreciate that MPs get lots of correspondence, so I didn't expect an instant response, but they do have staff to help with this kind of stuff and I'd have thought that four and a half weeks should be ample really.

I don't dislike the guy. I voted for him in fact. But AIBU to think that this isn't good enough?

Oh please fuck off with your weird stalking. I specifically said that I didn't want to say what it was about because I didn't want people's views on the topic to affect their responses about the timelines, but you just couldn't respect that so you went off to do your background research. What a pathetic little person you must be to put so much effort into having a pop against a random stranger on MN.

If you really must know, I have only ever written to this particular MP once, and it was to express some concerns about the Starmer speech. There are other issues that I plan to raise with him but I haven't got round to it yet.

Satisfied? Perhaps you can go and get yourself a life now.

Weird stalking
I’ve been on loads of threads where you have thrown around “I will be writing to my Mo about XYZ”

goodness you seem rather… defensive!

There are other issues that I plan to raise with him but I haven't got round to it yet.

oh yes, there’s also the issue that you say you “plan to”

anywho… perhaps he just sees your handwriting and thinks “cripes, not another one”

perhaps his predecessor gave him a heads up

Not defensive. Just annoyed by the irrelevant detail and your attempts to derail the thread.

And so what if I choose to contact my MP about stuff? It's my democratic right. Does it bother you if I write to him?

Sorry, but I don't argue with children on the internet. And in any case, it must be getting close to your bedtime.

Heavens

Nothing to be embarrassed about OP

you like writing letter to your MP 🤷‍♀️ each to their own and all that

Not at all

but it might explain why responding to yet another one of your letters isn’t top priority for him

I think a response depends on why you are contacting them.

If it's feedback or offering your opinion then a general response of thank you/acknowledgement is all you would get and due to time/cost might not be worthwhile them sending

If you are raising a concern or question about how you need their help then you definitely should get a response.

With your limited information it sounds like you are doing the first type of contact.

I really don't know why you're trying to pick a fight @Clockface9, but I'm afraid I can't be arsed. You're just not interesting enough to be worth the effort.

Plus I'd rather invest the time in writing letters to my MP.

And don’t they know it! 😆

Yes, it is more in the first category.

You do seem to have a lot to write to your MPs about. You are probably on a blacklist as a crackpot to be ignored. 🤣🤣

As stated above, I have written to this MP once.

And yes, I have occasionally written to his predecessors but not often actually. If it had been more frequent, I wouldn't have need to ask about the wait.

I hadn't realised that being politically engaged was now considered a legitimate target for the playground bullies, but whatever. I make no apologies for caring about what happens in our society.

Anyone read Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads here?

One of the characters ring a bell?!

I wrote and had an answer within two weeks. I was surprised because my local MP is a 'very important person' in the Tory party.

Give it a rest. You really are just using personal attacks for the sake of it.

I would think that it all depends upon the question, and the amount of detail the individual knows and also the MP.
I would then think that an appropriate response would be a quick thank you from an underling somewhere stating that a more detailed response will be heading your way/policy will be announced soon.

If it was an issue regarding an individual constituent then again quick response stating it's been received, then updates periodically

They must be using some form of ticketing system, if not no wonder we are in such a mess!

Yanbu mines useless i got a generic response from his secretary

It depends on the issue and the MP.

I contacted my old MP years ago about my disabled daughter falling through the cracks in the system. I had a response and a meeting booked within a month. After the meeting she took the issue down to parliament and raised a private enquiry with the relevant minister who then wrote to me.

About 5 years later I lived in a different area and contacted the MP there about the ongoing issues we faced with school transport. We couldn't access transport for DD despite having medical evidence she needed it, because on paper she wasn't attending her nearest suitable school.

However we lived ON the catchment line.
When the catchment line shifted back and forth each year, our nearest school changed. The year she'd joined school she was attending our 'nearest' school. The year she needed transport we were about 20m outside the catchment line.

I wrote to the MP, who took a couple of months to reply only to say he didn't understand why my daughter needed transport because she can physically walk 🥴.

I hope you get a swift and satisfying response.

Well whether he is reasonable or not does actually depend on what your question of national policy was?

I'm in a similar situation and awaiting a response to an email I've sent regarding national policy. Same as you - it's not niche or even really contentious. I would hope most people would be similarly minded. I'm really just asking for awareness so that I can have representation I suppose.

I think my auto reply said I'd receive a reply within 20 days. Whilst I think we should all be able to hear from our MP in a timely manner, I also don't know how they're supposed to achieve that tbh. My MP has something like 80k constituents. At any given time, there will be hundreds of people contacting him regarding policy issues and personal problems. On top of casework, he's also got all the work he does with local businesses and charities, he's representing us in parliament, he's in schools, he's knocking on doors. He really does try. He's a very active local MP and I feel he genuinely wants to help. But he's only one person and he's got a small team so I honestly don't know how they're supposed to manage the workload. It's not a job I envy.

Yep 🤣🤣

No doubt something along the lines of “can you please reverse Brexit”

I have regularly emailed my MP with direct questions or requests and I receive a response within the timescales set out in the automated response. He is helpful and proactive.

However, when I emailed him to express my concerns about some come current and proposed policies, I didn't receive a direct response although his views about some of these policies were included in his regular newsletter.

Our local MP who was elected last year for the first time said that between election day and 1st of December 2024 they received over 60,000 emails! That takes a lot of replies to get that down to a manageable level!