Ideas: Regular public meetings for local MPs

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Ideas: Regular public meetings for local MPs

01.10.2009 // by Guest

This idea comes from Deborah in Luton:

What's the big idea?:

MPs to hold regular, open town hall meetings where the public can attend and discuss relevant issues, and the MP can hear their feedback. Companies are obliged to hold AGMs, MPs should hold meetings at least once a year, preferably quarterly, to meet with their constituents en masse.

Why is this change important to you?:

Most people, unless they have an urgent and personal reason, will never meet their MP, and would never think of going along for a chat or just to see what they're like. The 1-to-1 nature of surgeries, while good in theory, puts most people off meeting their MP. A larger meeting would be more likely to bring along the just-curious, the somewhat-annoyed, or the mildly-supportive. I suspect the meetings might often be sparsely populated, but when the public were very cross
or when there was a key local issue, they could attend.

Ideally, meeting topics could be proposed via various means, including online - similar to the Number 10 petitions site. That way if people wanted something raised, they would not have to wait until the MP wanted to discuss it. However, it should be possible to drop in, post to maybe text suggestions as well for those without internet.

For cost and practical reasons, I suggest that the "suggestions" page / number are collected nationally, but the MP also accept paper suggestions dropped at their surgery. Agenda to be published online and in a local newspaper at least a week before the event.

An MP who rejected all suggestions, trotted out the party line, and was oblivious to local concerns would find that harder to maintain face-to-face with his constituents, and I suspect would be seen through quite quickly. It is important that the meetings are held at a reasonable time - e.g. not midday on a weekday when people are at work. Saturday afternoon, perhaps, or if football fans object then some other moment when most people are free. Not too early in the morning, as realistically that will deter many people from attending.