Never underestimate the value of writing to your MP
Saturday, November 3, 2012 at 13:37 I've lost count of the number of times I have urged opponents of smoking bans and other hyper-regulation to write to their MP.
There is a simple reason for this. MPs aren't mind readers and we have been told many times that if constituents don't write to them they are unlikely to do anything unless they have a personal interest in the subject.
Thankfully one reader heeded this advice and has just received a reply from her MP. Here are some excerpts:
I do have some sympathy with smokers who feel that government intervention and the "tobacco control lobby" are reaching, if not extending beyond, the limits of acceptable interference in people's lives.
It is, of course, a proven fact that smoking has a significant negative impact on health and I do think young people in particular should be discouraged from taking up the habit. That said, when adults choose to smoke it should be seen as an informed and personal choice and vilification should not be encouraged.
I think we have become far too ready generally to judge others and try to impose on people restrictions that should be nothing to do with the government.
The letter concludes:
I will of course bear in mind your letter when future votes take place in Parliament.
I am heartened by this letter for several reasons, not least because it was written and signed by the MP himself – unlike those ghastly pro-forma replies that people often receive when they write to government ministers.
It has also brought to our attention an MP who had previously gone unnoticed as a potential supporter. I can't tell you how useful that information is.
It demonstrates perfectly the value of writing to your MP. You won't always get the reply you want but the alternative, doing nothing, is not an option if you really want to bring about change rather than moaning about things from the sidelines.
Lots of people (including some bloggers) don't see the point of writing to MPs but this is what campaigning is all about. Quite often it's the little things that matter, not the highfaluting rants that pepper the Internet.
Writing privately to your MP may not provide the same satisfaction as venting your spleen (or preaching to the converted) online, but it can be far more effective.
You may think that writing to your MP is a waste of time but the evidence suggests that, sometimes, it's not. Of course, if several constituents write to their MP on a single issue the impact is significantly greater, and if a group of people in different constituencies was to write to their MPs – well, that's a campaign, and a worthwhile one at that.
Blog, comment and tweet all you want. The effect on MPs is generally very small. (We shouldn't flatter ourselves that MPs are hanging on our every word.) Write to them personally, as a constituent, and the impact will be very much greater.
None of this is rocket science. Unfortunately, far too many people ignore what appears to be a thankless chore in favour of the instant and often shallow gratification you get from commenting online.
Then again, the two are not mutually exclusive so why not do both?
Reader Comments (10)
I agree Simon. I write regularly to my MP. The first time I posted a letter the old fashioned way to his local constituency office, and Parliament, and I emailed him. He is content to just receive emails from me now and he always takes up my issues with the minister involved and always replies by post with his own signature written by his own hand.
I know some people have terrible MPs - I mean imagine being an adult tobacco consumer and writing to Stephen Williams MP or any other in the pocket of the Tobacco Control Industry - but keep on doing it regardless. At least that way they know that we don't all buy into their utopian ideal and they will know that they risk losing votes if their bigotry prevents them from representing ALL of their constituents.
Perhaps I should just add that in 2008, after debate with Kerry McCarthy MP, she did say she saw it from my side and would take into account my view when faced with the smoking issue in Parlt again - she then voted for the display ban so I guess she's just a liar and some MPs will say one thing to your face and do what they like behind your back.
I am blessed, for my sins, with anti-smoking’s darling, Anne Milton, as my MP (goodness, I must have done something truly terrible in a past life!) I hear what you say, Simon, about writing even to dyed-in-the-wool antis, and I think you're right, but I just think that mine is beyond redemption in terms of seeing the whole smoking issue as anything but a campaign of Good versus Evil, and any attempts to persuade her otherwise as anything less than Temptation Put Her Way by Satan himself! I am sure that there may be some anti-smoking MPs who adopt that stance through ignorance of the real facts, or simply because they think that it’s a bigger vote-catcher than a more tolerant attitude is, and for constituents lucky enough to live in their area it’s worth at least trying to open their eyes to the reality of Tobacco Control, anti-smoking regulations and to the strength of feeling of smoking voters about their continued persecution. But in every walk of life there are lost causes who aren’t worth wasting time and energy on, because it’s no more effective than the proverbial “banging of one’s head on a brick wall.” I’m just unlucky enough to live in the constituency of one of them.
Come the next General Election, with (hopefully!) a change of MP in my area, I’d definitely make contact with any new incumbent to ascertain their stance on the smoking issue. But until then, I just don’t have the time (or the inclination) to put together any explanation of my feelings about Tobacco Control-inspired rules and regulations when I know that it’ll probably take Milton of all of three seconds to consign it to the bin.
My previous MP Paddy Tipping voted for the smoking ban, however whenever I wrote to him (on several occasions) he always replied on headed notepaper, and we had many horn locking discussions. I did once though request that he ask the Secretary of State for Health about the number of people killed by ‘passive smoking’ in one particular year. He told me that my question would go into a ballot box, and if it was picked out then it would be asked – I never had my question asked.
Mark Spencer MP (who supports the ban) is part of the new intake and has taken over from Paddy, and he told me in no uncertain terms that he will not change his mind. I wrote back – in no uncertain terms – that since he is supposed to represent all constituents then he has a duty to listen to my concerns about the smoking ban, he did not reply.
However, I did get a few promotional emails because his office put me on his mailing list – and so with a few choice words I asked to be removed from his list.
If he can’t be bothered to engage in debate with one of his constituents, then he can roll up his rotten ego massaging emails into a nice tight ball, and shove them in a place where the sun doesn’t shine.
I have no intention of contacting him again this side of the next millennium!
I wanted Patrick Mercer for my constituency, but he got Newark – right next door.
My MP is utterly hopeless, a typical career politician that is a complete waste of time as he will always go with the flow. He doesn't support his constituents. Any replies I have had from him in the past have always been from his gopher too, most of the time without my MP even seeing my email. 99.99% of politicians are a complete waste of time in my opinion.
Some months ago, I tried to organise a 'Constituency Smokers Group'. Considering that the blog which I administer (The Bolton Smokers Club) is just a little, local blog, I was quite successful. I shall not say how many people to gave me their constituency details and joined the Group - I am conscious that Evil Holy Zealots read your blog.
I have been 'holding fire' on the Constituency Smoking Group. It needs wider dissemination than the Bolton Smokers Club can give it. But there is still the problem of inertia - people have to make their living and must give their attention to 'important' things in their lives. Smoking bans are low on their list of priorities, regardless of the inconvenience.
Many MPs are adamant that they support the ban, but that attitude flies in the face of reason. Anyone with any intelligence can see that SHS has minimal effect, if any at all. Doll's Doctors Study was not sufficiently robust as regards the ill effects of smoking to be produced in court (the McTear Case) as evidence that even smoking forty a day causes illness.
In view of the intransigence of MPs who support the ban (without evidence of SHS harm), one can only regard them as children.
I wish that it were otherwise. As children, they will only change their attitude if they are told off by lots and lots of adults, and we do not have the numbers. We must be patient.
I wrote to my MP, who I used to know personally, about ID cards.
I told him that if he voted in support of ID cards I would never vote for him again.
He never replied.
I am sceptical that most MPs take any notice of costituents; I think most of them just do as they are told by the whips.
I was pleased to see the rebellion by some Conservatives on the EU budget discussion last week; I wish this kind of thing would happen more often: i.e. the Whips being told what the MPs will support rather than the other way around.
@James Strong - I was pleased to see rebellion, too. At least one rebel MP, Sarah Woollaston, said that she was just representing her constituents - but to do that she would have needed to know how strongly they felt.
We don't have balance in the MSM let alone the luxury of "Daily Express" campaigns so MPs will believe that the ban (and the rest) has been accepted by smokers. Since we're barred from political discussion of the issues which affect us then it seems to me that the only thing we can do is to write to our MPs and, if enough of us did it, they'd begin to realise that there is real dissent rather than just a few diehards grumbling. Just as the silent majority would be emboldened if more smokers made more noise, I imagine that word gets out among MPs as well and if even one MP gets to his feet in the House as a result of a letter from a constituent then it might encourage another to do so.
My MP is Paul Goggins. I have spoken to him both in writing and face to face. His brother Mark is a musician who has worked for me in theatre bands in the past, so this has made things easier. He did vote for the shop display ban. He did however sign the list of MPs against plain packaging.
Unfortunately, my MP is currently taking time out to represent her constituents in the Australian jungle ("I'm a celebrity ..."). I am looking forward to my share of the month's refund of her wages.