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MPs shun email

Numpties rule, OK

The UK's politicians are reluctant to use email to communicate with their constituents, according to a survey by IT outfit Parity Group.

The survey found that the vast majority of MPs conducted less than a quarter of correspondence with their constituents via email, with MPs preferring to use snailmail instead.

The survey also found that only one in 20 MPs is comfortable using email. Those behind the survey reckon MPs could be more productive if they used email.

Said Rick Bacon, of Parity Group: "At a time when the government is pushing forward at a rate of knots with reform and development in the online world, it's ironic that most MPs are still unwilling to embrace current communications technologies."

"With 43 per cent of the country now connected to the Internet, there is clearly an opportunity for many more than 5 per cent of MPs who are willing to communicate with the electorate via email to do so," he said.

Parity received responses from 151 MPs out of a possible 659 Member of Parliament.

Nine out of ten said they conducted less than a quarter of correspondence via email, while only one MP conducted more than three quarters of correspondence online. ®

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