I WRITE in response to Mark Gugan, (Have Your Say, January 10).

In his letter, Mr Gugan takes issue with our local MP, Mr. Richard Drax.

He says, and I quote: “On this basis he should be supporting Mrs May not his own extreme right-wing agenda.”

I wish to remind Mr Gugan that Richard Drax is only a sitting member of Parliament because he was voted into office by his many constituents in South Dorset.

The first priority of any MP is not to the leader of their political party, but to those constituents who elected them, democratically, to the House of Commons.

While having the same views as your party leader is advantageous, there is no hard-and-fast rule that makes it mandatory.

Richard Drax’s first obligation is not his own personal agenda, but the views of the constituents he was elected to serve.

He is currently the MP for Dorset South, a constituency that elected him with a majority of 24.7 per cent, at a time when many Conservative seats were defeated in the last snap election.

South Dorset voted to leave the EU.

A total of 40.6 per cent of voters chose to remain, while 59.4 per cent chose to leave.

If anything, we are lucky to have an MP whose personal opinion matches that of his constituents.

He is a firm Leaver, sitting as an MP in a constituency that voted to leave.

Mr Drax, along with every other MP, has the right for his opinion to differ from his/her senior minister.

That is why he can campaign vigorously to leave the EU – it is the majority wish of his constituents.

Those are the people he should be supporting, because they are the very people who gave him a seat in Parliament.

His job is to serve the best interests of South Dorset, not to capitulate to Theresa May.

SALLY NORRIS

Weymouth