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.

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

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 on taxpayers subsidising political parties – MP claims back 40p for bottle of milk

A full list of the properties that MPs rent for their local offices has been published

It reveals that the other local MP (Julian Sturdy, Conservative) also rents his office from his local political party

Taxpayers should be told how much rent is paid by MPs to rent offices (its around £10 million nationally). A report on the issue is expected in the spring.

There should be an independent audit to check that the amount being paid reflects a fair commercial rent for the space used and that there is no cross subsidy of political activities.

Meanwhile the latest expenses claims by local MPs have been published click here to download.

They reveal that during June and July this year High Bayley claimed £6,286 including 40p for a bottle of milk and £20 on Yorkshire Teabags.

Julian Sturdy claimed £7956 with £60 spent on London’s congestion charge.

During 2012/13 Hugh Bayley spent £21,153 on office costs. In total he claimed £163,529 in expenses

In the same period Julian Sturdy spent £11,374 on office costs and claimed a total of £131,321 in expenses

Click here for all details