You may have had trouble finding your way to this, but as you have done you will probably be aware that these articles will now only be published online and no longer appear in the print edition of the East Grinstead Courier and Observer.

This development got me thinking about how times have changed since I was first elected to Parliament back in 1992. Back then an MP’s office operated very differently: there was no email, no internet, and I didn’t have a website (www.peterainsworth.com, since you didn’t ask!). But I’m keen not to paint myself as a fusty old curmudgeon; these technological advances have been overwhelmingly beneficial and made it far easier for me to keep a proverbial ear to the ground when listening out for the issues that matter to my constituents.

To see just how far reaching the internet has become, I googled ‘Peter Ainsworth MP’ and was astounded to find there were 22,000 results; surely there can’t be that many websites that have an interest in me?! Still, it would seem I could be more popular: ‘David Cameron MP’ returns 1,440,000, and ‘Gordon Brown MP’, 5, 950,000.

The upshot is that Members of Parliament are now more accountable, not only to their constituents but also to the wider taxpayer; and this can only be a positive thing.

After my own website, the second Google result for ‘Peter Ainsworth MP’ is for the rather marvellous ‘They Work For You’. On there you can see how I voted on key issues; how my expenses are broken up; how much I spend on staffing my office; even how much I spend on stationery. And all of this is of course very timely given that only last week a debate was held in Parliament on a change to Freedom of Information laws which would have left MPs’ expenditure less accountable. Had the law been passed, MPs would have had fewer obligations to make publicly available receipts for the taxpayers’ money that they had spent. Rightly, the Government dropped the idea, but only after a hard fought campaign.

Of all the correspondence I received from constituents on this issue (and there was quite a lot), I only received one letter by post; all other constituents chose to contact me by email.

The internet, and email, have revolutionised the contact I have with those I am elected to represent. My electronic postbag is now as big, if not bigger, than my paper one. I hope and believe that this has made it easier than ever for the people I represent to contact me, and long may this continue to be the case.