DON'T GET MAD - GET EVEN by Dr Andy Mercer

Many contractors have been frustrated by the lack of interest and the lack of replies from their MPs. Such behaviour from one MP led a constituent to take his own form of 'direct action'. Dr Andy Mercer tells how he turned the tables in a scenario which should send a warning to politicians who think IR35 won't affect them.

I live in Rushden, a fast growing town in the East Midlands. I have written several times to Paul Stinchcombe, my local Labour MP. In reply I received only acknowledgements and copies of Dawn Primarolo's press release.

Since Mr. Stinchcombe was clearly ignoring my letters, I decided to take action that he couldn't ignore. Paul Stinchcombe has the smallest majority of any Labour MP, and must be concerned about his chances of re-election. So that seemed to be the place to target.

The Tories are the only party opposing IR35, so I went along to some of their meetings, and my wife and I joined. An election was due for Rushden Town Council and my wife and I got nominated as Conservative candidates.

Next, I wrote a third letter to Paul Stinchcombe. In this letter I noted his failure to do or say anything constructive about IR35. I then wrote:

"I expect to be part of the group that takes control of Rushden in the next month. I hope this helps you explain to your colleagues why they lost the local elections in Rushden."

Once again I received no reply.

We then started campaigning hard. We knocked on hundreds of doors asking people to vote Conservative. My wife's ward was very marginal, so we worked hardest there. On the day of the elections we fought for every vote, ferrying infirm/elderly voters to and from the polling booth.

We won my ward comfortably. My wife's ward was tougher. It took three recounts to settle it. At one point my wife and two other candidates were all tied on 598 votes! After the fourth count my wife finally got in by two votes and pushed out one more Labour candidate. (Those OAP votes settled it!) We took four out of five seats in that ward, winning the Council by 14-6 overall. The Tories would probably have won Rushden Town Council without my efforts, but our efforts certainly helped. Afterwards, the Labour candidates were visibly rattled.

Since then, Paul Stinchcombe has suddenly started giving out invitations to local PCG members inviting us for a meeting.

So you see there is a way you can fight back. We don't have to lie down and let them crush our profession. Join the Tories and fight. Sometimes you can win.

Dr Andy Mercer