@dave30th In the UK system, one of the roles of an MP is to raise their constituents’ problems with the appropriate minister in the House of Commons. At a Ministerial Questions session you will quite often hear questions - from MPs of all parties, including the ruling party - about how the policies of that Minister’s Department affect
individual constituents. A corollary of this is that the public are expected not to write directly to ministers, but rather to address questions and complaints about ministers to their constituency MP.
By raising a constituent’s question, the MP indicates that s/he considers the matter to be a serious one. The result is not only to get information on the public record, but also (potentially) to inform other MPs and the media about the issue. A well-phrased question should not only prod the government (the administration, in US terms), but should also pique the interest of, and hopefully win over, neutral observers unfamiliar with the topic. An MP’s question can therefore contribute both directly and indirectly to the political pressure on the government, and can be an effective means to push government into changing course.
Additionally, the answers to technical questions like this one are drafted by senior permanent (non-political) civil servants. In the UK system, almost all senior departmental officials are permanent staff, who often remain in the same department for decades, and their views can have a lot of influence, especially on issues which don’t interest ministers much. Asking a question like this has the secondary benefit of alerting civil servants that politicians are scrutinising departmental actions in this area.
In relation to BPS and ME, all these forms of pressure could be useful I think. The UK government is facing vast bills from Long COVID, not only in relation to ill-health benefits, but also through the sickness absences of public sector workers, particularly in the NHS and in schools. Unless the contrary argument is made loudly and frequently, the government will have every incentive to listen to the BPS siren calls telling them that any fatigue syndrome can be made to disappear with an abracadabra and a puff of smoke. Despite all the progress at NICE, government may prefer to try to ignore the hard work of ME patients and researchers to investigate the true nature of this illness, rather than risk giving any encouragement to those asking for a biomedical approach to Long COVID. That would be not only unethical but also shortsighted in the extreme, given the likely long-term costs of self-delusion around Long COVID, and how much ME is already costing the UK economy in lost earnings etc. But the ostrich option could well be attractive to the government if it helps them cut staff payments today.
