Article For Folkestone Herald and Kentish Express

31 March 2005

Last Saturday I held what may turn out to be my last advice centres in this Parliament. If, as expected, a General Election is called next week Parliament will be dissolved a few days later. When that happens I cease to be your Member of Parliament and become, instead, a candidate in the election. Of course I hope to be your Member of Parliament again a few weeks later. But whether I do or not depends on you.

I have held my fortnightly advice centres ever since I became the Member of Parliament for Folkestone and Hythe in 1983. I have only missed a handful in all that time. I think they are one of the most valuable things I do as a Member of Parliament. Although, as I always point out, I do not possess a magic wand there are many problems I can help people with. That is one of the most satisfying parts of the job.

But advice centres also perform another valuable function. They make it almost impossible for a Member of Parliament to lose touch with the problems their constituents face. That does not, of course, necessarily mean that they take the right decisions. But a Member of Parliament who holds regular advice centres, where anyone can turn up and tell them what they think, has no excuse for being out of touch.

I once discussed this question with Paul Tsongas, a Democratic Presidential candidate who ran against Bill Clinton for the nomination in 1992. He asked me what I was doing for the weekend and I explained that I would be holding my advice centres in my constituency. He had no idea what I was talking about and when I told him he was amazed. “But you’re a Cabinet Minister” he said. I told him that most Cabinet Ministers did the same thing. His reply was that if the Members of the Cabinet of President Bush, Snr, had held advice centres they would never have lost touch with the country and President Bush would not have lost to Bill Clinton.

One other interesting thing about these advice centres is the range of issues which people bring to me. Last week they included several horror stories about the NHS, really difficult housing cases, difficulties over the payment of tax credits and other benefits, schooling problems for a child with special educational needs, the inability of one constituent to receive BBC Freeview or cable tv services and the bureaucracy of the Single Payment Scheme for farmers.

Many of these problems echo the themes which I have been campaigning on in the pre-election period. And the issues which I have placed at the top of our agenda – school discipline, cleaner hospitals, more police, controlled immigration and lower taxes are informed by my experience in the constituency.

If I am fortunate enough to be re-elected as your Member of Parliament, I shall continue to hold my advice centres – whatever other office I may then hold.