Dear Editor

Matthew Taylor claimed last week that it will be impossible for me to carry out my constituency duties as the MP for St Austell and Newquay after the next election by only employing local people and without having a London office set up.   Well he is wrong and I am afraid his attitude illustrates why current MP's working practices and ways of funding have got it so wrong and betrayed the trust of the people they serve.

I can quite assure Mr Taylor that I have conducted my business life for the last 30 years working for national and international companies with huge responsibilities that have required me to spend several days each week in London and have done so very effectively  without a London office set up or indeed a London home.  (And, along the way, I have had to produce every single receipt  if I expected re-imbursement) My office and administration teams have worked at the other end of the country and so I know it will be  possible for me to manage my constituency affairs using local people here in Cornwall while making perfectly sure that St Austell and Newquay's voice is heard loud and clear in Parliament.

As for poo-pooing my plans to travel around the constituency with my surgeries - he's wrong there too.  I don't make promises I won't be able to keep or may never be asked to follow through on and haven't glibly made a commitment without considering the logistics. I wouldn't have got far as a businesswoman if I didn't know how to do that.  I fully intend to hit the ground running if I am elected MP here and have worked out exactly how I intend to best serve this wide and diverse constituency with a year round rolling office and surgery that visits every community on a monthly rotation - literally.  New technology liberates the office-bound and I believe the electorate want their MPs to be more visible, more accessible and to be seen to be working hard actually IN their neighbourhoods - not waiting for them to come to offices in towns - especially given the vagaries of public transport and parking.

Mr Taylor studied politics at University, then became a political researcher and then became an MP.  The candidate the Liberal Democrats have chosen to fight this seat when he stands down has also studied politics and been a political researcher.  I'm sorry, but I think at the next General Election, people want to see real people representing them who have not been imbued with the way things have been done in the past.  Its time for change.  The House of Commons will be a very different place with a new breed of politicians seeking public service who have lived in the real world.

Best wishes
Caroline Righton

Caroline Righton
Conservative Parliamentary Candidate
St Austell and Newquay

2nd September 2009