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Make them 1 isten!
Page 28
Page 29
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Tony Blair's back in business — so now the industry needs to get its message across in the corridors of power. It really can make a difference, once you know how. Chris Tindall reports.
A
her the dust had settled the result in the General Election did not come as a surprise to many. Turnout was marginIly higher than four years ago, but what many lave described as a lacklustre campaign by the hree main parties obviously failed to inspire he electorate to get out and vote en masse.
However, perhaps it wasn't just the four veeks of insipid hustings that put most people )ff voting.There's clear evidence that this widepread disillusion came from a feeling that MPs kad not been doing what their job description uggests — working for their constituents.
waste of time rang [my MP] and wmte to him several times )ut it was a waste of time," says Diss operator viark Crofton-Sleigh. H he was disappointed by he lack of backing he received from Tory MP ?,ichard Bacon when he asked for help dealing with a civil action brought against him by Cusoms & Excise.
Customs had claimed that Crofton-Sleigh had ..vaded £100,000 in fuel duty, even though he had ilready been cleared of any criminal offences: 'He wasn't really interested in my case when he :ound out that it involved Customs and he said I should find a way to repay them!
"In my experience my MP was full of himself. They like going to help school children, but when it comes down to our problems they just aren't interested.The poor response I got was enough to put me off voting in the recent election."
Petrol Retailers Association director Ray Holloway says the problem has more to do with nationwide apathy than the road transport industry in particular. He thinks that if nothing else the General Election has made politicians aware that there has never been a better time to listen to their constituents.
And he reckons it's time we all made the most of this political enlightenment:"Most people don't know how to do it, but you find that it's quite easy to do. You can go to the House of Commons website and put your postcode in to find out who is your MP It starts with that.
Holloway is adamant that the only way to effect change in the policies created in Westminster is to convince those at the centre to make a case: "MPs ask civil servants about issues; that gets civil servants excited and they in turn get ministers involved."
He advises writing a letter first: "You need to spell out [the issue affecting the operator] in very 'Janet and John' english. There's no point using flowery language — the MP needs to be told. Go and visit them as well at a Saturday morning surgery. As a constituent you have the right to ask for an appointment with your local MP.
"Tell them what your problems are. You know intimately what they are; the politician doesn't have a clue." He also suggests going to Westminster and seeing MPs in their natural environment, but warns: "If you take groups to Westminster you have to give them time to respond. The MP is not going to be able to do anything immediately."
Most important of all, Holloway emphasises the need for persistence — which might explain the widely held belief that nothing is ever achieved through lobbying local MPs: "People think you do it once and that's it. But you do it once, then you do it again, and again, and again.
"It's the consistency of the message going in that makes people respond. All small businesses have issues; you have to get on their agenda. It's a process we are not very good at in the UK."
Quite important employers
Some trade association members probably think the best way to get a result is by allowing their association to do the work on their behalf.The FreightTransport Association agrees, but Chris Welsh, its campaigns general manager, adds: "It's a bit of both. There are a number of member companies that are quite important employers in local constituencies and are active in local and regional circles."
Welsh recognises there are occasions when a trade association is going to reach the parts a small haulier will struggle to reach; these are generally the big issues, such as fuel or taxation: "The local MP in a situation like that dispenses only tea and sympathy. The person you have to convince is the Chancellor. for example.
"We tend to get involved in the macro discus sions. It's realistic that the MP can only do so much. Use those channels, but recognise you have to use your professional trade association to engage with government."
That's a sentiment kin Mays. MD of Honey Services Group, agrees with: "I think in instances like these the trade associi tions are far more useful at least the have members who have the passion t fight regulations."
An ingrained distrust
This might sound dispiriting, but it's common response from an industr that is largely politically conservativ (and indeed Conservative) and ha developed an ingrained distrust of th incumbent government, which it see as having let the industry down badly Mays adds: -I've had no contact wit] my local [Conservative] MP whatso ever. He's rather pro-European for m: tastes. The idea that the EU is there t■ help us is not an idea that's shared b: many in the transport industry."
But Holloway disagrees. He hac some success with a campaign he organ ised for the Petrol Retailers Associ atioi called It's YourWrite.which encourage( members to pick out paragraphs fron letters he had drafted and send them tc their MPs, Eventually about 50% of MPs repliec to questions on issues his members had raised Holloway concludes:"It's the only way to effec lasting change. There are 646 of them; there', good and had in there, just like everywhere else Talk to them. How can you expect MPs to talk ts, you if you don't talk to them?" •