[ad_1]
Are British politicians really an “out of touch” elite?
It’s a slogan that populists such as former MEP and Brexit Party leader Nigel Farage have weaponized over the past decade, fuelling an anti-establishment wave that suited their goals.
But while Farage — himself a wealthy, privately-educated career politician, of course — takes easy potshots at the Westminster establishment, the truth about most MPs’ interactions with the real world is far more nuanced.
Yes, there are MPs who pay precious little attention to their constituencies, and one or two who look like they’d be more at home in the 19th century than the 21st.
But the sheer volume of mail which politicians now receive from struggling voters — each and every one requiring a reply — means most U.K. MPs are far more “in touch” with the problems in their local areas than an average member of the public.
Philip Cowley, professor of politics at Queen Mary University London, told POLITICO’s Westminster Insider podcast that an MP’s postbag can be a useful — if imperfect — barometer of how government policies are working on the ground.
“The postbag can be an early warning sign — or in some cases a fairly late warning sign — that something’s going wrong and something needs to change,” he said. “When you’re getting a sustained level of correspondence on some issue, it’s a good way of knowing how policy is actually functioning. ”
He added: “It leads them to think there may be a problem with the way the policy is working — and it particularly affects government MPs … They start to approach the minister, the whip and so on, and the pressure starts to build.”
Cowley said the “out of touch” image touted by newspaper editors and populist firebrands like Farage is largely unfair.
“One of the greatest myths in British politics is this idea that MPs now are an out-of-touch elite, whereas previously somehow they were really involved and in touch with what was going on in the real world,” he said. “Today MPs are probably more in touch with what’s happening on the ground in their constituencies than MPs in this country have ever been. It’s not just the postbag, it’s the amount of time they spend working in or for the constituency. None of that would have been true in the 1950s or 1960s when it was very common for MPs only to go and visit the constituency half a dozen times a year.”
On this week’s Westminster Insider podcast, Jack Blanchard explores some of the issues currently cropping up in MPs’ postbags in different parts of the U.K.
Essex MP Robert Halfon discusses rising cases of domestic abuse during lockdown, while Bristol MP Thangam Debbonaire voices fears about the long-term impact of the pandemic on her city’s legendary arts and nightlife scene.
[ad_2]
Source link
