Getting letters from your MP

Writing to your MP is one thing (a thing to which I’ll come back) but after you have written then you are likely to receive a reply.

Here is a checklist of things to do when you get a response from your MP:

• enjoy the yellow envelope with the portcullis on it, and the thick yellow note paper with a few words written by your elected representative. Put it on the mantlepiece if you want visitors to see it! And then move on – getting a letter isn’t an honour, it’s part of your MP’s job in representing you in parliament.
• read the response and assess whether your MP has actually responded to your letter or whether they just saw the word ‘grouse’ or ‘Brexit’ or ‘whatever’, and sent you a bunch of stock phrases.  It may be at this stage that you wish you’d kept a copy of your letter or email so that you can remember what you actually did write.
• if your MP has responded to your enquiry then you have to decide what you think of the response.  If they haven’t actually answered your question then why not write back and point this out, politely, and ask them to have another go.  There should be no let-off for evasiveness.
• if you have had a reasoned response then you have a few options: 1) do nothing, you’ve asked a question and got an answer, 2) write back thanking your MP but saying that you don’t agree and explain why, 3) write back and thank your MP and say that you agree with them.  Feedback is always good, but I tend to keep the ‘thanks’ for the intro to my next letter – but then, I write to my MP every month or two.
• you may have been sent a letter, via your MP, from a minister.  These are almost always standard letters (not that that is necessarily a bad thing) and you shouldn’t feel too special about receiving one. It’s very easy for your MP – you write to them, they pass on your letter and then pass back the minister’s response – they look good and haven’t done very much really.  I still think that you should go through the same assessment process and decide whether you want to register your approval or disapproval.
• start thinking about your next letter to your MP

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