Latest Question from Steve Webb MP

April 2009

Every week, the Prime Minister comes to the House of Commons to answer questions and every week hundreds of MPs put their name in a ballot to be chosen to ask a question. I am pleased to say that my name has been drawn out of the hat to ask the Prime Minister a question next week, Wednesday 6th May.

I am therefore asking my constituents to suggest what question I should ask, and invite you to submit your suggestion via the form at the bottom of this page.

To come up with a good question that will work at Prime Minister’s Questions, you need to be aware of the following:

* the question needs to be short; the Commons can be quite noisy at PMQs, and the Speaker will cut off any MP who goes on for too long; anything that needs detailed explanation will not work;

* the question must not require the Prime Minister to have detailed local knowledge;

* I don’t get any comeback if the Prime Minister doesn’t answer the question;

* we need to avoid a question that simply allows the Prime Minister to give a general reply about how many billions of pounds the Government has spent on the subject.

As you can see, an effective PMQ is not easy.

Whilst I can’t reply to every individual suggestion, what I do promise to do is read every one and look for a good idea that I can use in the House of Commons. I will also let you know the outcome.

I look forward to your ideas!

Best wishes,


Steve Webb MP


Scroll down to write your question, then click on the "submit" button at the bottom of the page.