Comments on: Why the Liberal Democrats? Part 1 in an occasional series

By: Andrew Hickey

Andrew Hickey — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:46:50 +0000

I’m sure there are Lib Dem representatives who are below average or even poor – just as there are for every other party. I’m merely stating that in my experience (and those of others I’ve talked to) Lib Dems are far more responsive than members of other parties.
I’m also not sure to what extent the WriteToThem figures are more than a rough guide. For example, I’d have clicked the link saying that John Leech responded after getting a form letter, but clearly a longer, detailed reply or a personal phone call is much more useful. There’s also the question of how active the representative is in the community in other ways – John Leech spent a couple of hours yesterday with a gang of us getting signatures on a petition to keep open some local schools for disabled children. That kind of activity is to my mind worth a lot…

By: donpaskini

donpaskini — Sun, 18 Jan 2009 13:32:31 +0000

Hi Andrew,

It’s not a general rule that Lib Dems work harder than representatives of other parties. There are some very good councillors and MPs, and some not so good ones in terms of keeping in touch with the people they represent, but this is true across parties. (There probably is a correlation between responsiveness and how politically competitive an area is, but even then, some of the best councillors represent very “safe” areas).

I note, for example, that John Leech was ranked 223rd amongst MPs for responsiveness by WriteToThem in 2007. Take the city of Oxford – Andrew Smith is ranked 78th (well above average), whereas Evan Harris is ranked 634th. The logic of your argument here is that people in Oxford who want help from their representatives should vote Labour, not Lib Dem.

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Tue, 06 Jan 2009 19:07:11 +0000

[...] Andrew Hickey on why he is a Lib Dem. [...]

By: Jennie

Jennie — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 10:21:36 +0000

I’m with Anthony on this: because we recognise the value of open and honest debates, we want to have them all the time, and so when someone wants to have one with us, we leap at the opportunity.

By: Dave Page

Dave Page — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 08:52:01 +0000

One of my favourite stories from Lib Dem activism is my first time out canvassing in Chorlton for Paul Ankers’ local election campaign. In two adjacent houses, I met two former lifelong Labour voters who’d switched to supporting the Liberal Democrats – one because of our principled position on the Iraq war, and one because John Leech got the double yellow lines repainted at the end of the street within a fortnight, when the resident had been on at the council for six months!

By: Anthony

Anthony — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 23:44:08 +0000

I actually think this goes deeper than just ‘working harder’. The vast majority of Lib Dems believe things work better when people get involved in improving them, debating them, complaining about them, proding the levers of power and generally causing a fuss – politics is about participation after all – it’s not just a vote once every four (or five) years.
This keeps politicians and bureaucrats responsive, and fosters experimentation and debate. We all learn something, even if only how to hone our arguments. So it doesn’t surprise me that a Lib Dem MP went out of his way to engage in debate with someone and respond to their queries.

This is my view about why, as a general rule, Lib Dems often work harder than politicians from other parties. Obviously there are exceptions both ways, but we’re about the process.