WHAT would YOU do with an 80-day break this summer? Local MPs - who are getting the jumbo summer recess in July, plus three weeks at Christmas and half-term next week - claim they'll be working, not skiving.

The long break, granted to allow builders to fit a new security screen in the chamber, was announced just days after new work and pensions secretary David Blunkett declared: "Work is actually good for you."

Annette Brooke, Liberal Democrat MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole, admitted her summer resolution is to go on holiday because: "I didn't go on holiday at all last year.

"I spent most of my vacation doing the police parliamentary scheme for a total of 22 days."

She added: "There will be a lot of constituency work, and the office will be open every day except for bank holidays."

North Dorset's Conservative member, Robert Walter, said: "Apart from my annual holiday, I'll be holding surgeries through August and September and helping constituents with their affairs."

Poole's Tory MP Robert Syms said: "When we have a recess, I spend my time in Poole, visiting factories and workplaces and dealing with local correspondence.

"Just because one isn't sitting in London doesn't mean you're sitting on the beach. You never stop as an MP."

South Dorset's Labour MP, rural affairs minister Jim Knight, said: "Contrary to popular opinion, we still work more days and more hours than any other parliament in Europe.

"The vast majority of MPs will use the longer summer recess as I will - to spend time visiting schools, businesses and so on, just to make sure we follow up issues we have picked up on during the General Election, and some of the things we have had to ignore while we have been campaigning."

Conservative MP for Bournemouth West Sir John Butterfill said he had an average of 40 leters a day and would spend the summer on constituency business. He condemned the length of time the government was away from the House, saying: "It is bad that they get the time off from us being able to question them."

However, he blamed the over-lengthy break on Scottish MPs who, he said, wanted to begin the holiday in mid-July so they could take the same time off as their children, who have different holiday times to those in England.

"It is, in my opinion, mad," he said.

The new Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, Tobias Ellwood, said the break was "far too long".

"We have 45 bills to get through this session and it's my view that the time they've given is far too short," he said.

But he will be putting the time to good use "looking after my constituents and getting married".

Chris Chope, Conservative MP for Christchurch, said: "Politics continues during this time, committees are held during the recess and MPs also use the time for fact-finding missions.

"And, if anything happens, such as was the case with the Iraq war, then we can return early."

According to Bournemouth University politics lecturer David Kett, they may all soon find themselves serving longer hours.

"With a reduced majority, no party can rely on the government always winning and for that reason, I think they'll have to be in the chamber more than they have been used to," he said.

First published: May 21