Row over MP’s accessibility sparks debate in High Peak 

A discussion on local Facebook groups this week has sparked questions over the accessibility of High Peak MP Jon Pearce. 

One resident posted that she had been unable to get in touch with Mr Pearce, writing: 

“I am trying to contact Jon Pearce, MP for the High Peak. His office number is unable to accept any more messages and there doesn’t appear to be any staff working to take calls from his constituents. Does anyone know of any alternative phone numbers he can be contacted on?” 

The post quickly drew responses, with some suggesting that since taking on the role of Parliamentary Secretary to Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer, Mr Pearce no longer had time for his local constituents. 

Mr Pearce himself replied directly to the originally post, saying: 

“Hi, my staff and I are very much available. If you want to message me your number, we can give you a call back.” 

The debate soon widened when Cllr Nigel Gourlay, Conservative County Councillor for Chapel and Hope Valley, contacted the Glossop Chronicle to share his concerns. 

“This is very disappointing,” said Cllr Gourlay. “Jon Pearce took more than a year to open his constituency office in Chapel, and there is still a lack of activity. The windows have been obscured so that you can't see whether anyone is working at all. And now the MP has taken a role as Keir Starmer's Parliamentary Secretary, he is even more focused on national politics rather than the people who need his help.” 

When we approached him for comment, Mr Pearce provided a detailed statement in response. 

“Since being elected, I’ve helped thousands of High Peak residents with over 16,000 pieces of casework. We do in-person surgeries, online surgeries, community coffee mornings, supermarket drop-ins and door knocking sessions. I am the most accessible MP the High Peak has had. 

Constituents can and do contact me by phone, email and letter - and every enquiry is dealt with, unless of course they don’t leave a message. 

It is hilarious that Nigel Gourlay is trying to make himself relevant. The Tories are finished and he knows it. This is a man who never holds a surgery and his only legacy is the catastrophic incompetence that led to children losing the MUGA in Chapel. He then scarpered and left it to others to try to sort it out. 

I’ll happily compare my record to his every day of the week.” 

In response Cllr Gourlay replied: “He is clearly not the most accessible MP ever, when he criticises his own constituents for not leaving a message on a full answering machine. As for the nonsense about the MUGA in Chapel, it’s verging on libel. From the start of the court case, the parish council was led by a group of Labour activists, including the husband of a councillor working for Mr Pearce. Chapel residents know from my newsletters that I have criticised the council’s handling of the case for the past four years.”