News story

20th January 2005

Local MP Nominated for Award

Northavon MP Steve Webb has been nominated for a prestigious award at the forthcoming Channel 4 Political Awards. The award is given out by the Hansard Society and this year will go to the MP who has made the best use of modern technology to provide a service to his or her constituents. Steve Webb has been nominated for his "pioneering use of text messages and e-mail" to keep in touch with the views of large numbers of local people. At present, more than 3,000 Northavon residents have joined a scheme whereby they receive occasional e-mails or text messages from their MP to ask their views on anything from nuclear power to the future of the licence fee. The number taking part is growing every month, and any local resident is welcome to take part by simply e-mailing their name and address to stevewebb@cix.co.uk . More details can be found on the MP's website.

Commenting on the nomination, Steve Webb said:

"I put a lot of time and effort into trying to keep in touch with what local people are thinking, and using modern technology is one important part of that. It is an honour to have been nominated for this award, and I am grateful to the thousands of local people who are willing to spend time letting me have their views in this way".

The awards ceremony will take place on Tuesday 8th February at the headquarters of Channel 4 and will be attended by senior parliamentarians from all parties. The programme will be broadcast on Channel 4 a few days later.


Note to editors:

Also on the shortlist of three with Steve Webb are Labour MP Anne Campbell, and Conservative MP Tim Collins.