John Howell MP

05 NOV 2011

The role of an MP and Europe postscript

In a representative democracy the purpose of government and of an MP is to serve the best interests of the nation and of constituents based on judgement not on ephemeral opinion polls. His or her role is not to represent constituents' views since there are always mutually contradictory views on any one issue. However much we may all be disillusioined with the EU, the confused, ill-considered and opportunistic proposal for an EU referendum cannot be described as in the nation's best interests.

Opinion polls cannot tell us whether those who answer the question have given the issue any serious thought before the question was put. In addition, answers are often led by the nature of the question itself. Change the wording of the question and you get a different answer. Most importantly, opinion polls do not provide any context for how strongly an answer is felt or what priority the respondent gives to it.

Recent on-line campaigns are no better. Modern technology makes it all too easy to send an e mail at the press of a button with little thought given to the issue. How seriously for example am I to take campaign e mails which begin with the salutation "Dear [INSERT THE NAME OF YOUR MP]" and end with "Regards [INSERT YOUR OWN NAME]". Either way, this does not suggest a lot of thought was given to the subject or to the e mail before the button was pressed.

It's not just electronic communications. My office recently received complaints from constituents that I had written to them about an issue on which there had been a major campaign. They claimed not to have asked me for a response. As we had to point out, the petition they had signed clearly asked for just that in black and white.

It is only a year and a half since I and my party stood for election on a credible and achievable European policy which we have been successfully implementing to stop any more powers going to Brussels without the agreement of the British people and to bring existing powers back. This policy was set out in a manifesto for which 11 million people voted and which did not include an in-out referendum.

Europe is of course an important issue. Some, however, see it as the all-defining issue of our age. I do not; the defining issue is restoring the health of our economy. Those in the former group often seem to be unable to recognise that their view is not widely shared. So, they instead resort to threats or seek to question the motivation for an MP's voting record. One constituent even threatened to have me guillotined publicly – a threat in which the irony of a Eurosceptic recommending a European means of execution seemed totally to have escaped him

I am always interested in my constituents' opinions even when I do not agree with them. They can help me in forming a judgement. However, representing people does not mean simply doing what they say. An MP is not a mere delegate to be mandated by them to vote in a particular way. As Edmund Burke established as long ago as 1774 an MP is there to use his or her own judgement.

And who are the 'they' anyway? Are those who wrote to me really suggesting that I should rely on guidance solely from the 0.1% of voters who contacted me about Europe? This is a difficult proposition anyway since many of that 0.1% were against a referendum, not for it. In addition, what weight am I to give to the views of the 99.9% who did not feel the urge to write or e mail?

I do not wish to belittle the strongly held views of extreme Eurosceptics. I share many of their frustrations with Europe. But one needs too to retain some perspective. Constituents here are not shy in contacting me; they do so by the many thousands each year. Yet I had over twice as many e mails about the fate of Anne the Circus Elephant and the conditions in which hens and cows are kept than I did on Europe.

Back to all posts

The role of an MP and Europe postscript

Constituency support