A Letter to Chris Grayling, my local MP for Epsom and Ewell, on the EU Referendum and his duty as our MP

Dear Mr Grayling

My name is Nick Thomas, and I am long-time member of your constituency. My family has lived in the Epsom & Ewell area since I was born, I went to school in the local area. I feel a close bond with the Epsom & Ewell area which I believe will last my entire life. I hope to live here in the future, and perhaps even represent the constituency as you and your colleagues in the council do.

I also voted for you at the 2015 General Election. This decision was made majorly due to my confidence in the economic and political performance and future intentions of yourself and your Conservative colleagues. Persisting with austerity was never an easy decision to make, but I believe it was the right one, considering the damage that uncontrolled national debts have caused many of our partner nations within the European Union. Persisting with welfare reform was always going to make the Conservative Party an easy target for opposition parties and certain groups of voters, but it was probably necessary and should be beneficial in the long term

As you may have guessed, I am getting in contact with you because of the dramatic events of the past days surrounding the EU referendum. I’ve always been a politically active member of society, but the shocking divisions laid bare by the EU referendum campaign, it’s results and the public reaction have been a call to action for me. As a young person with limited experience of life, my contributions might be limited and my knowledge of certain life issues (parenting, education of my children, care for the elderly) may be lacking. But I feel it is my duty as a British citizen to start actively fighting for my future, and the future of those around me.

Which leads me to the purpose of this e-mail. How you will act in the coming months in relation to the EU referendum and its related legislation, based upon your publicly-stated priorities, and on your implicit responsibility as a Member of the British Parliament to uphold the democratically-stated wishes of your constituents. I’ll allow the below subscript from your website to act as an additional guide:

“My Priorities for Epsom & Ewell

• Working hard for local people & the local community:
• to continue to work to ensure the future of services at Epsom Hospital.
• to work with residents to preserve the character of Epsom, Ewell, Ashtead, Nork & Tattenhams.
• to be an effective voice for local residents on the national stage, working to secure a referendum on our EU membership and to get a better deal for hardworking taxpayers.”

From http://chrisgrayling.net/

I don’t want to enter into any debate about this or that promise that was made by yourself or by any of your Vote Leave colleagues during the course of the campaign. Even the ones emblazoned on the side of a coach. However I would like to refer to the following factual information provided by Epsom and Ewell Council: http://www.epsom-ewell.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/B102DE6E-FD31-4426-9938-E81A92A1F3B7/0/DeclarationofLocalCounttotalsEURef23June2016.pdf

As you can see, your local constituency voted in favour of Remaining in the EU by a margin of 23,596 to 21,707 with a turnout of 80.40%. I’d like to congratulate you on this turnout figure, higher than the national average by approximately 8%. It is an obvious demonstration of a vibrant and successful local democracy, headed up by yourself.

So my central question is this: will you be representing the democratically-stated will of your constituents by continuing to fight for the United Kingdom to remain part of the European Union until it is no longer legislatively possible?

For example, were another general election to be called in the coming months, as seems highly likely, would you retain your personal stance of wishing to Leave the EU, or would you represent the wishes of the constituents of Epsom & Ewell and campaign to Remain in the EU despite your personal views. It seems to me that the issue I’ve posed here represents a stark test of your integrity as a Member of Parliament versus your personal interests.

On this point, it is helpful to refer to another one of your publicly stated positions here: http://chrisgrayling.net/eu-referendum-statement-from-chris-grayling/. You refer to the concept of sovereignty, which I can clearly see you are an expert on. Indeed, as a former Secretary of State for Justice and Lord Chancellor, I would imagine you are better informed about sovereignty than almost any non-legally trained person in the entire United Kingdom. This is how I understand the situation of a Member of Parliament on a local level: the constituents of Epsom & Ewell collectively entrust their inherent natural rights as UK citizens in you, their Member of Parliament, to act on their behalf.

So as I understand it, if you were to choose to act in any way that was in opposition to the democratically-stated will of your constituents you would be in violation of this fundamental pact at the foundation of our democracy. For example, if you were to campaign in any future general election, referendum or vote, on a ‘Leave the EU ticket’ when it was possible to do otherwise, you would have violated this pact, as well as directly lying to your constituents.

I’ll try not to drag this out any further, as I’ve no doubt you are fully aware of this situation, and fully aware of all the issues I have stated above. The only result I would appreciate, is a statement of your opinion on this matter. To be as clear as possible, I will summarise the above below. Thank you for your past, ongoing and future work as our Member of Parliament for Epsom & Ewell.

TL;DR — Summary

• I am a constituent of Epsom & Ewell
• You (Chris Grayling) are the Member of Parliament for Epsom and Ewell
• Your personal view on this issue is that you would like the UK to Leave the EU
• The constituents of Epsom & Ewell recently voted that they wished to Remain in the EU.
• It is highly likely that there will be ongoing political debates and perhaps a general election on this issue which you may be able to influence as an MP. This includes the upcoming election of the new Conservative Party leader.
• I understand it is your responsibility as the democratically-elected Member of Parliament for Epsom & Ewell to represent the will of your constituents.

Questions

(I believe it would be possible to directly answer these either yes or no)

• Will you be retaining your personal stance on the issue of Leaving the EU?
• Will you be restating your publicly-available intentions on the issue of Leaving the EU?
• Will you support any and all political efforts to ensure the UK remains part of the EU, if such efforts were to exist and were legal?

Yours faithfully,

NICK THOMAS