What does John’s work at Westminster involve?
I spend about half of my time in my constituency and the other half at Westminster. This normally involves flying down to London early in the week and flying home on a Thursday night. I have a small office in London with one member of staff and keep in touch with my Edinburgh constituency office every day.
The average day consists of a mix of attending debates, meetings, committees and dealing with correspondence from constituents and other groups or organisations who have contacted me. Parliament is lobbied by groups wishing to express their views and I meet with some of these occasionally. Constituents also visit on a fairly regular basis and I try to meet with them.
Scrutinising the work of the Government is one important part of an MP’s duty and two of the committees I am on are the International Development Select Committee, (which scrutinises the work of the International Development Department) and the committee dealing with the Tobacco Advertising Bill. If you would like to know more about what goes on at Westminster you can visit the Westminster web site.
Many people ask why the debating chamber at Westminster is relatively empty except at Prime Minister’s Question Time. One reason is that MPs can follow the debates on a monitor in their office and get on with their work at the same time, rather than just sitting listening to other speakers. I have found that this is a much more productive way to spend my time.
On most days the Commons Chamber does not start business until 2.30pm, but there is other work going on in committee, at meetings or in Westminster Hall debates. Time has also to be found to read the volume of post, emails and fax messages that arrive on a daily basis. In an average week I receive over 100 letters and 125 emails to my Westminster office on top of what arrives at my constituency office. Often the day at Westminster starts at 9.30am and can regularly end after 10.30pm.