Gary's views

Gary's weekly views

Each week an article by Gary has appeared in the Plympton Plymstock and Ivybridge News in South West Devon. The articles are published here

PMQ

From time to time I get letters from constituents demanding that I vote in a certain way, in line with their strongly held views which they assume are held by everybody. I politely point out that it is a well-established convention that Members of Parliament in this country are representatives and not delegates.

Once elected we are supposed to exercise our judgement as we see fit, not simply voting with the majority view on any given issue.

And anyway how do we know what the majority view is? Name any subject and there will be dramatically diverse opinions held. Only last Saturday morning I opened my post to read a letter from a Plympton resident begging me with great passion to vote to ban hunting; the very next letter from a constituent in Ivybridge urged me above all else to vote to keep hunting!

You can’t win – so we have to simply back our own judgement and let the ballot box be the final arbiter.

Having said all of that, interactivity is now the name of the game! Modern technology makes a closer relationship between voter and representative more possible. I want to establish a more direct link between my actions at Westminster and the views of those who send me here. So, with your help, I am going to try an experiment. You all know that at 12 noon every Wednesday the Prime Minister answers questions in the House for half an hour. The main focus is naturally the titanic struggle between the two main party leaders – a blood and fury event not to be missed. But there is scope also for the rest of us to apply in advance to ask a question on any subject we like. I have not come up in the computerised draw recently, so it is likely that in the next few weeks, I will.

So here is the challenge. What do you want me to ask the PM? Send me by e-mail (or post) the question that you would like to put to Mr Blair. You may have wanted to do this for years – well, now here’s your chance. It must not be too long – or too rude, or the Speaker will slap me down! Don’t worry about framing it in Parliamentary language, I can do that bit. I will choose the best suggestion for the very next time I come up in the ballot. Over to you.

Mail@garystreeter.co.uk

posted by Nigel on Friday, February 13, 2004