It seems that over-the-top privacy “concerns” are now going to mean that we won’t know where our MPs live.

To my mind, this is highly undemocratic. If there is a problem with MPs’ security, we already have a solution—posting a policeman outside their home. But without knowing MPs’ home addresses, telephone numbers etcetera, there will be no way for their constituents to contact them in an emergency.

It seems to me that some MPs have forgotten that their primary duty is to serve their constituents, and that they are supposed to make themselves accessible, not inaccessible, to those same people.

If MPs are not going to be required to publish their personal contact details, then they should be required instead to provide a method of contacting them directly that is guaranteed to work 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year.