York Central Labour MP below average in dealing with correspondence

Ranked 433 out of 653 MPs nationally

According to independent research site “Write to them.com” retiring MP Hugh Bayley achieved only a “medium” score on responsiveness to resident’s communications. He had achieved a “high” score the previous year.

MP letters

Julian Sturdy the Conservative MP for the neighbouring York Outer seat also only achieved a medium score.

The scores were based on the proportion of communications that an MP responded to.

In Hugh Bayley’s case he replied to 34 of 73 communications, while Julian Sturdy managed 31 responses to 59 contacts

Nationally the best MP (Michael Ellis, Conservative, Northampton) replied to all 32 contacts that he received.

Iain Duncan Smith Conservative for Chingford came bottom of the table replying to only 4 out of 55 contacts.

Four MPs however declined to respond at all to the “write to them” web site.  (Barbara Keeley, Labour, Worsley; Dominic Raab, Conservative, Esher; Liz McInnes, Labour, Heywood and Nadine Dorries, Conservative, Bedfordshire.

Ironically two of Hugh Bayley’s office staff are standing as Labour candidates for the York Council at the May 7th poll.

New web site rates York Central MP Hugh Bayley as poor value for votes

York central MP Hugh Bayley has been rated at 607 on a new web site which seeks to measure the effectiveness of MPs.

Hugh Bayley under fire

Hugh Bayley under fire

There are 650 MPs in the House of Commons.

The site looks at the number of votes the MP got in the last election and compares this with salary and other costs as well as the number of times that the MP voted in the Commons.

Hugh Bayley is towards the bottom of the list with a cost of £1,818 per vote

Hugh Bayley’s office costs are significantly  higher than average while he voted in less than half the divisions called in parliament.

York Outer MP Julian Sturdy is ranked at 18 (close to the top of the list)

The list isn’t perfect, of course, with those MPs, for example, representing Highland and Northern Ireland constituencies inevitably having the highest travel expenses.

No attempt is made by the web site to measure the effectiveness of the MP at constituency level although there is an opportunity for residents to “rate” their MP.

Another web site has been launched which will list all public meetings at which local parliamentary candidates share a platform

More pushing and jumping on York Labour ship – now Bayley quits

 

Helicopter for Bayley

Helicopter for Bayley

Today’s announcement that local York Central MP Hugh Bayley is to quit at next Mays General Election has taken many by surprise.

He has become something of a “fixture” on the York political scene over the last 20 years. As recently as last summer he said that he would seek another term of office.

Coming so soon after the resignation of the Labour Council Leader, it is inevitable that residents will put two and two together. The extent of the turmoil within the local Labour party is becoming increasingly obvious.

Ironically those  in the local Labour party who had positioned themselves to be Bayleys successor have recently been side-lined.

Scott left the Labour Council Group, Alexander is on his way to London under a cloud,  Williams has just taken on the Council’s Leadership while others have the odium of failure sitting on their shoulders following four tempestuous years on the York Council.

It is to be hoped that Labour do not try to parachute an outsider into the City.

As the Westfield by election showed, electors do not like to be taken for granted and they  are increasingly flexible in their voting choices.

Hugh Bayley became a generally respected figure in the City.  He did the routine MP jobs well but chose to locate himself predominantly in London. In later years he was increasingly slipping out of the York scene. He did not entirely evade the kind of criticism handed out to many MPs over issues like the expense claims. He was forced to make an apology over the Union Terrace sale issue and was not shy at accepting hospitality as he drifted into the celebrity circuit in later years.

He will be remembered though as a straight forward kind of person and has done enough for the City to deserve a positive niche in Yorks political history

NB. The York Central Liberal Democrats will be selecting a parliamentary candidate at a meeting being held 15th December. The party is expected to select a York resident to be its candidate in May.