What does a constituent do about an MP who does not respond to correspondence in a timely fashion and fails to address the policy points raised?

Repeatedly, Hendon’s Conservative MP Matthew Offord has not replied to many policy points I have put to him and generally been very lax.

Overall, he has just given platitudes or information I had already seen in the public domain.

As I am still awaiting a response to issues raised in correspondence on July 19, I complained to the Conservative Central Office (which responded promptly and clearly contacted him) and the local association about his lack of reply.

Mr Offord responded: “I did and I won’t enter into further correspondence with you on this matter”.

In the democracy in which we live, it is our MP’s job to represent us, and respond to us.

To my knowledge, Mr Offord is neither a cabinet minister nor sits on any select committees, so what exactly is he so busy doing that he cannot fulfil his primary function of responding to his constituents?

During his election campaign, David Cameron mentioned the right to “recall” MPs. We haven’t heard anything since.

This means an incompetent MP could sit on the gravy train for five years without being accountable in any way.

So how do we make our MPs more accountable mid-term — particularly given the sweeping policy changes this Government is making? Surely our MP should not be allowed to ignore the concerns of his constituents.

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