There has been quite a lot of discussion here over the last few days about the merits of writing letters to MPs, although I use the term \u2018letter\u2019 rather loosely, because I rather suspect that most people will send them by email.<\/p>\n
I believe that this is an important process, and I write to my own MP quite often. This is one reason why I chose to develop the ChatGPT prompt<\/a> that I have created to assist me in turning a blog that I have written into a letter to an MP requesting that they take action on the matter that I am concerned about.<\/p>\n Because I think that writing letters to MPs remains an important thing to do, I prepared the list of questions<\/a> that I think we might want to raise with MPs, which was published here yesterday. Some suggested that the tone of those questions is a little too direct. Maybe they are. But if we can\u2019t ask our MPs direct questions, what is the point of having them?<\/p>\n My point is this. We don\u2019t really write letters to MPs expecting to get phenomenally useful answers. In truth, anyone who does that is going to be disappointed. I give that warning in advance of suggesting that you undertake this activity. But, there are a number of good reasons for still writing to your MP, despite that limited expectation of a meaningful reply.<\/p>\n Firstly, there is no harm in having a relationship with this person. They need to know that there are people who wish to hold them to account in their constituency, because that should improve their performance as an MP.<\/p>\n Secondly, simply writing about an issue to an MP makes them aware that people are concerned about it. It may not change their mind on anything. It may not require that they undertake any additional research. It may only result in them sending a standard letter prepared on their behalf by their party\u2019s communications office, which will leave you deeply dissatisfied with the response that you get. But the MP still knows this is an issue of concern to you, and they will feed that back through the party mechanism, and that will be noticed. Every MP that I have ever known has kept a register of the topics on which letters are sent to them so they can have some gauge of the level of concern on issues in their constituency. If this is the only impact that your letter has, so be it. It is still worth sending.<\/p>\n But let me reiterate three things.<\/p>\n First of all, you can only write to your own MP, which is why you must include your name and address and maybe your phone number.<\/p>\n Second, be fairly specific about what you are raising as a topic and what you want your MP to do. I think that the ChatGPT prompt<\/a> that I have created does this, although you may wish to make your letter shorter than that which the prompt might create.<\/p>\n Thirdly, be very clear about what you want your MP to do. Again, my ChatGPT prompt does this for a very good reason: it sets out various actions that are required, and the MP can choose to comment on which of those they can do. Most particularly, do include the request that the MP pass this matter on to the relevant minister for comment, because that then creates a further action and reaction, which will be a benefit as a consequence of your letter.<\/p>\n Finally, do remember that democracy does require your involvement. It is not a spectator sport. It is a process requiring active participation. Sending letters is a key component in that, and for that reason, I think that this is worth doing.<\/p>\n