Letters to MPs

[jgs]

Do MPs have to reply to letters/ emails from their constituents?

[Drusilla]

I'm not sure whether they are legally obliged to, but I think the custom is established that they should do so. I'm very left wing and live in an area that has been Tory since The Battle of Hastings, but I have the utmost respect for my former MP, who retired at the last election. He always replied promptly to my letters and proved very helpful on a couple of occasions.

[johnlambert]

Ive had to contact two diffrent MP's in recent years and both have taken the time and trouble to reply. One was Labour, the other Conservative, I found them both helpful and both went out of their way to see that I was satisfied with the end result.

Im the political opposite of Drusilla but, like her, (Im assuming your a lady Dru, many apologies if your a bloke),I had the utmost respect for the outgoing Labour chap

[gary baldy]

Likewise i have always found MP's (or more likely their assistants) to be very prompt. Sadly most of the time it is window dressing and they rarely follow up the acknowledgement.
Its a bit of a lottery - some MPs are very motivated whilst some see their constituents as an annoyance. At the last election we went from an arrogant labour MP to an incompetent Liberal Democrat. I dont bother with them - instead i find out an MP who has a particular bee in their bonnet about the issue i am moaning about and write to them.

[BigMac]

NO, they don't. There is a (current) Tory MP who, certainly in the past, used to send out letters saying "I'm sorry, your letter has not been chosen" to receive a reply!

But, any MP will want to reply to her/his constituents - they elect her/him. Imagine the effect if you didn't receive a reply? Your immediate family, work colleagues, PTA, sports club, pub mates or whatever would soon know, wouldn't they... and that would not be good for the MP's reputation or chances of being re-elected.

So, in practice, almost all MPs will reply. You may not be satisfied with the outcome (after all, MPs probably have less real power than your local councillor) but you should receive something more than a mere acknowledgement.

[mormess]

I worked at my local Council and my job was to coordinate all the MPs' correspondence. We had a strict code as to when to send an acknowledgement and then when the reply had to go out. The letters were catalogued and monitored.

I think what happened is that people would write to their MPs and then the MP would write to the relevant council bod who would then investigate the matter. So maybe I've got the matters all confused.

Some people (constituents) would write to their MP and then copy that to all the relevant council officers in the hope of getting a reply. They all ended up in the same place - my desk!

I guess, what Big Mac said - you'd expect more than just an acknowledgement but at least they will acknowledge!

[jennymac]

You all want to come and live in Newport East we have an excellent Labour MP who does over and above her call of duty.

[jgs]

It's been just over a week and still no reply. Maybe i'm being a bit optimistic for a response so soon. I guess i'll sit tight. Thanks for your input...