Last week you asked Theresa May a number of questions. Here are the Shadow Leader of the House's answers:
ToryT: Mrs. May, Dan Hannan said in his article on our local results that your early decision to go for a maximum number of candidates locally - ie standing even in rock solid Labour wards - would grow our parliamentary base.
Apart from the councillor gains, what effect do you think those losing candidates new to Labour wards will have on the General Election? It seems a very efficient way of flushing out our vote in Labour's bedrock and I wondered of the party had any data on that.
I support selecting as many candidates as early as possible for lots of reasons. First of all I think it is important that every voter – regardless of where they live in the country – should have the opportunity to vote Conservative should they wish. Having said that, it’s also advantageous for the Party because it helps us to build a base in those areas where we have not in, recent times, been as active as we’d have liked. It means that opposing parties don’t get a free run but are challenged to prove themselves to voters.. In seats where perhaps we don’t expect to win at the next general election, the new infrastructure gives us a chance to win local council seats and to build a campaigning base which could help us to win in the future. Politics is changing and as the demographics of different constituencies change so we need to be awake to the possibility of making gains where we have not traditionally done so.
Pisaboy: Do you have any thoughts on how Parliament's website can be more dynamic?
The internet is changing all forms of communication, and this definitely includes political communication. It makes it much easier for politicians to communicate directly with voters – think of the interest when David launched WebCameron, or Tony Blair’s rather embarrassing attempt to catch up on YouTube. But this easier communication doesn’t make it easier to control a message. On the contrary, the internet makes information easier to come by, but harder to control – think of the success of blogs like ConservativeHome and Guido Fawkes. I definitely think Parliament’s website can be improved – perhaps it could have better access to video feed, include interactive features or have discussion forums.
These modern means of communication are one reason why I recently opposed the Government’s decision to grant MPs a new communications allowance. With new technology giving us the opportunity to communicate directly with voters very cheaply, why did Labour MPs vote for a £10,000 allowance to tell voters what a good job they do?
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