MPs spend too much time on constituency duties

Andrew Blick (London, Democratic Audit): I am a naughty boy. I have upset Iain Dale with my suggestion that too much parliamentary time is wasted on the long vacations that MPs enjoy. Iain says that my post is "ridiculous" and suggests that I surely know that MPs will be spending lots of this time on constituency duties. I am sure they are. But this is part of the point that I am trying to make. MPs spend far too much time on "constituency duties" which is of course a way of shoring up the advantages of incumbency and blocking off challenges. As a result, not enough parliamentary time is spent on their prime duty of holding the executive to account. If we need parliamentary social workers, attached presumably to local MPs, then let's have them.