WRITTEN ON May 19th, 2009 BY chris AND STORED IN Leaflet Distribution

Tags: government, Leaflet Distribution, MP

It would take a braver man than me to stick up for MPs expenses’ in the current climate, but the calls to scrap the Communications Allowance does strike me as something of a kneejerk reaction.

In last week’s Prime Minister’s Questions, Conservative leader David Cameron made his position very clear when he said that the £10,000 allowance - intended to allow MPs to inform their constituents about the work they do - should be “the next issue we have to tackle”.

“Let’s be honest taxpayers are effectively paying out thousands of pounds so we can all tell our constituents what a wonderful job we are doing,” Cameron said. “We’ve all done it. We all know the facts. Isn’t this a gigantic waste of money? Let’s save some money. Scrap the communications allowance now.”

Leaving aside the fact that Cameron and shadow chancellor George Osborne have both claimed under the allowance, his comments seem to me to completely miss the point.

At a time when Parliament is criticised as being more remote and disconnected than ever from the people that elect it, what good will come by removing what has been a highly effective means of communication?

Introduced in 2007, a range of methods are permitted under the allowance including reports, newsletters, questionnaires, surveys, petitions, targeted communications, contact cards and websites.

But the most popular by far have been door-drop and direct mail. We ourselves work with numerous MPs across the country and know how they value the opportunity to keep their constituents informed. We’ve written about the benefits of a door drop for politicians before, and it seems strange that Cameron is effectively calling for reduced accountability.

Of course I know what this is really all about - money. With expenses such a hot potato at the moment - quite rightly - it’s hardly surprising that all but the most essential outgoings have come under the microscope.

But it shouldn’t be forgotten that a door drop is about as far from a lavish expense as you can get - a simple but information-packed leaflet is hardly flash and it’s undoubtedly the best value way of keeping the electorate informed.

In fact, a blanket door-drop on a typical constituency of 35,000 households would cost a fraction of the total allowance - something like £1,500 or even cheaper depending on the exact methods chosen. That’s unbeatable value when measured against other channels.

Cameron should recognise this, in the same way that the Central Office of Information recognised this when they chose a leaflet drop to tell the country about swine flu.

The MPs expense system clearly needs some radical reform, but the Communications Allowance is not the place to start.