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Legislative Process

No, it signed by Mr. Michael Morris of The Rise, NW7. The fact remains, how much are we talking about? If we are talking about allowances of about £10,000, only 20 Members have spent more. The total cost of that excess is just more than £100,000, and I suspect that if we introduce the allowance it will cost rather more than the £100,000 that might be saved. If we put that against some of the waste mismanagement to which Mr. Morris referred—£400,000 spent on a covered walkway in the yard downstairs, for example—that would have paid for four years’ worth of envelopes for everyone who has been criticised for using rather more allowance than they should. Other constituents wrote to me. A gentleman from Burnt Oak wrote that"““it disappoints me to hear that your budget to keep constituents informed by post may be cut. I do not possess an email facility and bearing in mind the vast sums of public money that are wasted this seems to be a miserly posture by the House of Commons.””" I received a raft of letters from satisfied constituents. For example, one wrote:"““Such a comprehensive report is to be commended and is much appreciated.””" That was a report on transport and traffic that I compiled for my constituent. Another constituent from Colindale said that she"““much appreciated being kept up to date””" on matters of great interest. A constituent from Edgware said:"““We appreciate all the communication we receive from you, and feel that you are the only MP that seems to genuinely care””" about what is going on.