Theresa May MP: Taking Parliament to the people

It is a sad fact about modern politics that Parliament has become distant from the people who elect it.  For example, just 44 per cent of people can name their local MP, and turnout is historically low.  As Shadow Leader of the House of Commons, I believe passionately that Parliament needs to be closer to the people.

But how can we make this happen?  There are a variety of ways that we can make Parliament more relevant.  Only yesterday, I debated a motion that will improve the ability of backbench MPs to get involved in House business.  That’s one small measure.  And we can also make Parliament more relevant by making it stronger.  We need to reform its processes to restore the balance between the Government and Parliament.  We need to answer the West Lothian Question, reform the House of Lords.  And, as I have argued on Conservative Home before, we need to radically change the way the House of Commons scrutinises European legislation.

When we come to government, we will make those changes.  But we can still play our part to make Parliament more relevant to the public.  That’s why, this week, I launched my Parliamentary Roadshow. 

The Roadshow will take Parliament to the people, and ask the public what needs to be discussed and debated by MPs.  Every month, I will travel to a different region of the country, and focus on a different theme, to ask people what they want MPs to do.  So, this week, I went to Birmingham for the Roadshow’s first meeting, and met representatives of the West Midlands business community.

There, I listened to businesses’ concerns about tax and regulation, including about the changes to capital gains tax announced in the Pre-Budget Report, about the decline in our entrepreneurial culture, and about the problems caused by our increasingly risk-averse culture.  I will be raising these issues in Parliament in the coming weeks.

And in the coming months, I will be travelling up and down the country, meeting people from all sorts of professions and walks of life, and making sure that their concerns are reflected in the House of Commons.  If you have any particular areas of the country or themes you would like me to cover on the Parliamentary Roadshow, please feel free to comment in the thread below, on the Roadshow website, or by emailing me.

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Wearing my Shadow Minister for Women hat this week, I uncovered some shocking facts about the new Equality and Human Rights Commission – the supposedly streamlined super-quango that replaced the CRE, DRC and EOC this month.  With a budget of £70 million, it will spend 45 per cent more than the three old bodies combined.  It will have 518 staff.  And, for reasons that escape me, it will have no fewer than eighteen different offices up and down the country.  The EHRC only came into existence on 1st October.  This isn’t exactly the best of starts.

Comments

[Phil Roberts]

Great idea Theresa. How about something for the armed forces? It's a disgrace that we don't make them feel appreciated. I keep reading about squalid accommodation and this week there was even a story about how a petrol station attendant wouldn't serve an army captain because he was in uniform. Disgraceful.

[Malcolm Dunn]

I'd be really interested to hear how your roadshows go Theresa.I'm particular keen to know whether the majority of attendees are genuinely 'ordinary people' or political anoraks or worse activists like us!

[Tony Makara]

Great initiative, and such a contrast with the top-down rule-by-directive style of Labour. Tony Blair did much to undermine confidence in the parliamentary process and the Labour government has shown such arrogance when it has had the whip hand.

The Conservative party should work overtime to create a presence in redbrick towns like Wigan and Sheffield, areas that have been Labour dominated for generations and failed by Labour for generations. Sadly in such towns the Conservative party is seen by many as being 'All for the rich' and this is a Labour inspired myth that must be smashed.

[Chad Noble]

Well you guys have proposed (20th March 2006) to replace voluntarily funded parties with a state funding formula that means brave independent MP's will not get a penny, parties with one MP will get nothing but the big parties will help themselves to millions of pounds of taxpayers money.

That's hardly going to make the people think that you are seeking to get closer to them.

And when you make a 'cast iron' guarantee on anything, and actually use the words 'cast-iron', you must ensure you deliver and not insert caveats later as trust will just drain away.

[John Strafford]

Theresa,
I fully support what you are doing so visited your roadshow web site. Your West Midlands visit on 24th October is still shown as "venue TBC" so who was invited and did it take place?

[Iain]

I am sorry this sounds like more patronising tosh, and something similar to Brown's citizen juries, a development I loathe, and more about Brown getting the answers he wants from questions he asks than any regard for 'consultation'.

But if you have determined the need for a 'road-show' in order to find out what people are thinking, what does that say of our supposed representatives? Aren't they the ones picking up the big bucks to represent their constituents in Parliament?

So if you have determined the need for a roads-show, what you actually don't need is a road-show, what you need to find out is why our so called representatives are so ignorant of what their constituents want, and failing to presenting their views in Parliament.

[Mr Logic]

Iain, I'm afraid your point is incoherent. You argue that MPs should know what people want discussed, that it's a poor show that they don't, but at the same time you think it's patronising for Theresa to consult people. Your reaction is typical of many on this site - knee-jerk negativity, expressed with all the pomposity of somebody who knows a great deal, but in fact knows very little.

[Iain]

"Your reaction is typical of many on this site - knee-jerk negativity,"

I thought I was being constructive and making the logical conclusion to T.May's proposal for some road shows, in that we don't need road shows, what we need are our MP's, our so called representatives, doing their job of representing their constituents in Parliament. So we don't want Parliament patronisingly brought to the people, but as it should be, people being represented in Parliament!

[Moral minority]

The new Equality and Human Rights Commission is a disgrace and should be abolished. It is time to close down the race relations (sic), equal opportunities (sic) and human rights (another sic) industries. They are statist means of social engineering and attacking civil liberties. We must fight for free speech, attack political correctness and be free to run our businesses with inteference from busybodies like Mrs May.

[Moral minority]

Apologies for the typo - my post should have read "free to run our businesses WITHOUT interference from busybodies like Mrs`May".

BTW, why is there a Shadow Minister for Women but not Men? That is blatant sexism!

[Lindsay Jenkins]

Yes the Commons is distant from the people, Mrs May is right. But why?

The overwhelming problem with the Commons today is party control, something Mrs May fails to mention.

Party control tends to produce MPs of an average to low standard and limited experience – some have even failed when they attempted careers and one or two have never had one.

The few – from all parties - who have wide experience and are of high intellect do make voters sit up, take notice and debate the issues.

And then there is voting – nearly all divisions are by party. How dull and indeed rigid is that. As a form of entertainment it would be bottom of the league table. As an arm of democratic government its a disaster.

So tackle the issue of party conformity Mrs May and you may have a large part of your answer.