The folks back home

Some say MPs try too hard to live and work among their constituents

What are MPs for? Should they be sort of super councillors taking up local problems and speaking out for their constituents, or should they be focused on the business of law making and holding ministers to account? Last week we reported on the efforts Parliament's been making to improve the way it scrutinises government legislation. Tonight we'll look at MP's constituency role. Once they were criticised for restricting their local involvement to an annual round at the local golf course -- now the complaint is the reverse; that they're spending so much time on their constituencies they're failing to scrutinise the Government properly, or to put the microscope onto the new laws put before them... Mandy Baker's been trying to find out....