Week in Westminster

A few weeks ago we passed the halfway point in this Parliament and I was reflecting on how quickly the political scene changes and the issues that had come and gone; some still with us, others. I suspect, forgotten by most if, in fact, they ever registered in the first place.

It is of course so easy nowadays to contact your MP. That in itself is good but an MPs postbag or inbox still represents only a tiny proportion of the electorate. One of the difficulties is that so many of the emails are generated by pressure groups. Of itself there is nothing wrong with that as they represent the senders opinion and I do my very best to respond to them all. But, are they representative of public opinion as a whole?

The biggest issues when measured by the volume of emails have been the level of Air Passenger Duty, Petrol Duty, NHS reforms, the takeover of BSkyB, the proposals to reform the Forestry Commission, Fish Discards, and a whole range of animal welfare issues of which the greatest number of emails have concerned the proposed badger cull and beak trimming of hens.

Does this mean that energy costs, our relationship with the EU, war and peace, crime and punishment, standards in education, climate change, civil liberties, housing, immigration and pensions – to name just a few – are not considered to be as important by my constituents. Clearly not and I suspect these issues, taken as a whole, will have a greater impact on the outcome of the next General Election than those in the first group.

So the inbox is not a guide to public opinion since, despite the ease of communication only a small proportion of the electorate ever contact their MP. I’m fortunate in being a local person and living locally as I still find the best measure of public opinion is the ‘feel’ you get from being part of the community. I rarely visit the shops, supermarket, football match or any other event without someone giving me the benefit of their opinion sometimes by accident as I was queuing up in the newsagent’s in Cleethorpes the other day and the woman in front of me, unaware that I was behind her, was castigating all politicians. But just like we all have opinions on who Roy Hodgson should pick for the England team we all have opinions on where this or any other government or council are going wrong – and rightly so. So keep the emails and letters coming and feel free to stop me in the street. It’s one of the precious blessings of our democracy that we can freely express our opinions.

What will be the biggest issues in 2013, of course the ever-present concerns will dominate but the unexpected always happens in politics – that is the only certainty.