Chris Skidmore is my constituency MP. He ousted the Labour incumbent, Roger Berry in 2010. As is my wont, I will write to my MP from time to time when their polices excise me sufficiently. Berry, despite being a Labour “yes” man, did have the courtesy to respond. On the occasion that I had a run-in with HMRC, he was helpful in his role as a constituency MP, so fair play to him – despite my loathing his politics.
Skidmore is another matter. I wrote to him a year or so back to see if he could help with my difficulties with the French system when facing repossession of our house. It was a long-shot and I didn’t expect much. Just as well, really, I got nothing, not even an acknowledgement. The MEPs all responded and the LibDem one tried to do what he could, although as I expected, it didn’t get us far. That, though, is by the by.
I recently wrote to Skidmore about the Care.Data scheme. I expressed my dissatisfaction with the planned data collection and explained politely why I was opposed and sought his opinion.
That was a month ago now. Still no reply and no acknowledgement.
This time next year, doubtless, he will be seeking re-election and like the other spongers will be looking for me to cast a cross next to his name. Well… It ain’t gonna happen, is it? If he cannot be bothered to acknowledge, let alone respond to constituents’ concerns, then he is a lousy MP and is not deserving of our support. I’m certainly not voting for him.
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Update: I’ve had a response.
He’s relatively young, extremely ambitious and:
“He was a member of the Commons Select Committee on Health, but was discharged from the committee on 17 June 2013 and replaced”.
Perhaps that still rankles.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Skidmore
Well, it seems he is a fine example of the type. Cheeky fucker.
I’ve had the same indifference thing from my MP, my local council, and from ministers in the Scottish Parliament. Over the years I’ve written letters of protest about smoking bans, minimum alcohol pricing and other such policies. My letters were polite, concise (not more than one side of notepaper) and non-abusive. I had no intention of entering into correspondence with anyone – I merely wanted to state my case and was interested in what they had to say in reply. In response I was either ignored or received a standard letter of receipt. Only once did I have a detailed response but it was a cut-and-paste job, possibly from an ASH press-release, rabbiting on about the ‘dangers’ of second-hand smoke. My partner, who was a top civil-servant attached to the parliament of the German land of Saxen-Anhalt, was appalled by such endemic indifference on the part of our ‘representatives’. Communications from constituents/citizens are taken very seriously in Germany and anyone ignoring letters or sending out an inadequate response would be in big trouble!
Yes, well, given that Kingswood is a key marginal, Labour are all set to regain it. Skidmore won’t be missed. I didn’t like Berry overmuch, but at least he did the constituency stuff.
It seems odd that your experience of a new Tory MP reflects that of a friend. He always loathed the politics of the previous Labour chap and looked forward to a Conservative replacing him. Since then his letters have had as much result as yours. Strangely the Labour ex MP still keeps in touch about matters relating to his seat, guess he may get back in…
Our MP is Labour and we cant get rid of him, letters, calendars you name it. Its a safe seat but even though he keeps in with his constituents regardless.
If this is repeated nationwide, are they throwing the next election away through apathy or hubris?
This sort of thing is irrelevant to “party”
It depends on the MP’s themselves
Fortunately, both the previous & present ones (both Labour, oddly) are good – they listen.
That’s what they are SUPPOSED TO DO, after all
We recently had cause to contact our local MP Graham Allen (Labour) to try and get some help over a matter pertaining to the DWP that was 3 weeks ago and still no reply to our call.
I have no previous experience of this local MP so no way of knowing if this is a one off or his usual behaviour.
My previous experience of MP’s was all good Sir Michael Marshall (May he rest in peace) was a fantastic MP but also a personal friend of my family, however he cared about his constituents and always did an excellent job regardless.
His replacement Nick Gibb also equally dedicated and excellent, both conservatives so this experience has rankled with me a bit.
I agree it is a matter of the individual and their commitment and not all MP’s of one party are good or bad by any means .
However on his web site MR Allen states
” If you have a problem and need my help, please get it touch – it’s what I’m here for. I have a dedicated team of professional caseworkers in Nottingham and London.
We deal with casework, phone calls and letters, all the time representing the interests of the people of Nottingham. We deal with hundreds of cases, such as anti-social behaviour, tax credits, child support and many other issues that I take up for my constituents. Some we win and some we don’t, but we always do our best. It’s one of the best parts of the job when we finally get justice for someone.”
Hmmm really Mr Allen is that so…well your constituency staff sure are not doing their job’s 3 weeks is an unacceptable wait, whilst I appreciate he is a busy man this matter was very concerning.