I’m often looking for ways to engage with my MP – usually online, since that’s how a lot of things are done in the 21st century (banking, paying bills, booking travel etc). However sometimes I get a little bit despondent about writing to elected representatives who then don’t respond.
Neither my last MP Vince Cable, or now (since I’ve moved to Kingston) Ed Davey seem to do the online thing, with not much response to email and no tweets since May 2010.
In fairness, both seem to blog quite a bit and I haven’t yet tested their response rate to a dead-tree format letter.
But this got me thinking – is twitter and social media truly a way for MPs to reach out and engage with their electorate? or is it just a handy tool for some publicity every 4 years when they want our votes.
It would be a shame if the latter were true, since it’s a relatively easy way to publish information, particularly to a younger audience.
So I’ve compiled a list of MPs who haven’t tweeted in the last 6 months (most haven’t since the last election), along with a count of their followers:
Twitter MP | followers |
@vincecable
|
22094 |
@Vaizeyculture
|
3863 |
@Mike_Fabricant
|
2639 |
@HazelBlearsMP
|
2522 |
@DavidWrightMP
|
2507 |
@VirendraSharma
|
2505 |
@AlanDuncan4MP
|
2494 |
@leighmp * – now moved to @andyburnhammp and updated!
|
2004 |
@markdurkan
|
1946 |
@KarenBuckMP
|
1780 |
@naomi_long
|
1766 |
@eddaveykands
|
1543 |
@gildernewmp
|
1518 |
@Linda_Riordan
|
1489 |
@acarmichaelmp
|
1462 |
@Moore4Borders
|
1443 |
@nicolablackwood
|
1328 |
@kwasikwarteng
|
1026 |
@JDjanogly
|
885 |
@DavidEDrew
|
823 |
@Michael_Ellis1
|
658 |
@rosie4westlancs
|
634 |
@AMcDonnellMP
|
616 |
@George4MVMP
|
562 |
@NickSmith4BG
|
516 |
@PhilipDavies422
|
507 |
@C4NWestminster
|
452 |
@MaryMacleod4MP
|
449 |
@StocktonNorth
|
378 |
@edwardleighac
|
76 |
With over 22 thousand followers Vince Cable is missing a trick. Perhaps he’s lost the password?
As always corrections and feedback most welcome.
Update – @leighMP is now @andyburnhammp which is regularly updated – thanks to @CollectorManiac for pointing that one out.
Updated update: check out more MP twitter information at tweetyourMP.com