In my last post I emailed MP Anne Milton asking her about her views on representation of her constituents. In brief, her response was that she would only discuss this in person rather than electronically. After some dithering about how to respond, ultimately I acquiesced and had a thoroughly enjoyable meeting with her.
To quickly tie things up from last time though, my email to Anne and her response
No acknowledgement of my learning difficulties or adjustment because of them but hey ho.
So the meeting itself...
I gave this some thought before entering into the meeting and decided that what I wanted out of this meeting was purely to understand how my MP will represent me. Although there were many issues that I would like to discuss, I thought it would be best to keep things simple and not get diverted. If this went well, I then would move on to discussing one issue- in loose terms, social mobility.
Just before I left work today a colleague of mine brought to my attention that you need permission from your MP to share any correspondence that you have with them- apparently you can be prosecuted otherwise. (I asked and gained permission btw but I had no idea until today.)
The following is my recollection of our meeting. Notes were taken by an assistant which are going to be emailed to me and when I get them I'll post them and we can compare.
On free votes, Anne listens to the views of her constituents and balances the variety of opinions with her own and votes accordingly. She establishes these through dialogue with constituents that contact her and occasionally through holding town meetings (though these are often poorly attended). She makes the assumption that people that don't contact her don't care enough. I commented that there could be other reasons like a lack of faith that anything will happen as a result of contact but this was not pursued. My take away message: if something bothers you contact your MP
When it comes to following the party line, this is more challenging but she does consider the issue and doesn't always follow the status quo. Anne went on to say that you can have far more influence by engaging early on the drafting on policies/ bills rather than waiting to the end and having a yes/no vote on it. I can see the sense in this and my next point is engage with your MP early. Don't wait for a vote, get them shaping policy the way you want it before it gets to being voted on.
With this established, I decided to move on. I said that one thing that particularly bothers me at the moment is the narrative that poor people are poor because they don't work hard. According to Anne, this narrative comes from the "left wing press" not a phrase that I hear very often but okay. Some to-ing and fro-ing ensued. She talked about the "good work that Ian Duncan Smith has done at the DWP" and I tried to keep a straight face. I failed spectacularly when told that tuition fees increases have increased access to university for the poor- I didn't think that was true but I'll check my stats for next time. What was interesting was what we agreed on- we don't want anyone living in poverty and if people can work to support themselves then that is better than the state supporting them. We disagree on the means. I guess this is an excellent chance for me to start championing the use of evidence in policy-making!
This is getting rather long so I'll wrap up. This was really quite fun. I think we were both positive in the meeting and would rather collaborate to get the most of different views rather than fight about who is right. Anne said multiple times to get in touch about anything and I will. I'm going to encourage everyone to do the same with their respective MPs. The question is what issue next?
To quickly tie things up from last time though, my email to Anne and her response
From: Natasha Fox
Sent: 19 May 2015 12:27
To: MILTON, Anne
Subject: Re: Representation
Sent: 19 May 2015 12:27
To: MILTON, Anne
Subject: Re: Representation
Dear Antonia,
Thanks for your email and sorry for the delay in my response. I've been slow partially because I was uncertain of what I wanted to say. I have a strong preference for written communication because I have dyslexia. As a result of this I process some types of information quite slowly. If something is written then I can digest at my own pace and refer back to it later if I want clarification. I can also structure my response with a good deal more clarity. I recognise though, that there are real benefits to be had from face to face communication, particularly in covering lots of information or conveying context and nuances so I'm happy to meet or phone.
Kind regards
Natasha
Dear Natasha,
Many thanks for your further email. Anne is holding an advice surgery next Friday afternoon (29 May). Are you free then? If you let me know, I will get an appointment slot booked for you to meet Anne and discuss the issues you would like to raise.
Very best wishes,
Antonia
Antonia
Antonia Kerridge
Office of The Right Honourable Anne Milton MP
Member of Parliament for Guildford
Treasurer of HM Household
Government Deputy Chief Whip
Tel: 020 7219 8392/0017
Fax: 020 7219 5239
If you want to see what Anne is up to in Guildford, Parliament or just what she does in her spare time then why not follow Anne on Twitter? To follow Anne on Twitter then please do click on the following link! http://twitter.com/annemiltonmp. You can also find Anne on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/AnneMiltonGuildford
So the meeting itself...
I gave this some thought before entering into the meeting and decided that what I wanted out of this meeting was purely to understand how my MP will represent me. Although there were many issues that I would like to discuss, I thought it would be best to keep things simple and not get diverted. If this went well, I then would move on to discussing one issue- in loose terms, social mobility.
Just before I left work today a colleague of mine brought to my attention that you need permission from your MP to share any correspondence that you have with them- apparently you can be prosecuted otherwise. (I asked and gained permission btw but I had no idea until today.)
The following is my recollection of our meeting. Notes were taken by an assistant which are going to be emailed to me and when I get them I'll post them and we can compare.
On free votes, Anne listens to the views of her constituents and balances the variety of opinions with her own and votes accordingly. She establishes these through dialogue with constituents that contact her and occasionally through holding town meetings (though these are often poorly attended). She makes the assumption that people that don't contact her don't care enough. I commented that there could be other reasons like a lack of faith that anything will happen as a result of contact but this was not pursued. My take away message: if something bothers you contact your MP
When it comes to following the party line, this is more challenging but she does consider the issue and doesn't always follow the status quo. Anne went on to say that you can have far more influence by engaging early on the drafting on policies/ bills rather than waiting to the end and having a yes/no vote on it. I can see the sense in this and my next point is engage with your MP early. Don't wait for a vote, get them shaping policy the way you want it before it gets to being voted on.
With this established, I decided to move on. I said that one thing that particularly bothers me at the moment is the narrative that poor people are poor because they don't work hard. According to Anne, this narrative comes from the "left wing press" not a phrase that I hear very often but okay. Some to-ing and fro-ing ensued. She talked about the "good work that Ian Duncan Smith has done at the DWP" and I tried to keep a straight face. I failed spectacularly when told that tuition fees increases have increased access to university for the poor- I didn't think that was true but I'll check my stats for next time. What was interesting was what we agreed on- we don't want anyone living in poverty and if people can work to support themselves then that is better than the state supporting them. We disagree on the means. I guess this is an excellent chance for me to start championing the use of evidence in policy-making!
This is getting rather long so I'll wrap up. This was really quite fun. I think we were both positive in the meeting and would rather collaborate to get the most of different views rather than fight about who is right. Anne said multiple times to get in touch about anything and I will. I'm going to encourage everyone to do the same with their respective MPs. The question is what issue next?
