SHERYLL Murray likes to talk. ‘I’ve got verbal diarrhoea,’ she laughs, organising coffee and dragging a spare chair up the stairs for me, writes Stuart Fraser.

But how much and where does she like to talk? Thereby hangs a tale.

The Conservative MP for South East Cornwall, standing for re-election on June 8, has faced criticism for blocking questions on social media and for refusing to attend all the hustings debates being organised in the constituency.

She’s even been the subject of hashtags on Twitter, #blockedbysheryll and #wheres sheryll.

‘As soon as the election was called my diary filled up and we had to put a schedule in place,’ she said. ‘I’m sorry I can’t get to all the debates but I am determined to stick to my diary and to get across the whole of South East Cornwall, knocking on doors and talking to people face to face.

‘Just because an area doesn’t have a hustings event shouldn’t mean people can’t see their politicians. So many people want to raise things with me which they can’t do in a public debate.’ Things they could perhaps raise on social media?

‘Social media is becoming, amongst a certain group of people, a tool to use against MPs and Government. One of the things people don’t understand when they try to engage with me on social media, is when you’re an MP every communication is confidential.’

But doesn’t an MP also have to justify their votes and their actions to people who have a right to ask them to do so?

‘People can email me, they can write to me, they can come to see me. I’m the first MP in South East Cornwall to have a full-time main office in the constituency where people can call in.

‘When you have comments and criticism on social media you don’t even know that people are your constituents – and I can’t deal with communications from constituents in public on social media.

‘I have a Facebook page and a Twitter page to tell people what I’m doing. In terms of my voting record, it’s open, and Parliament has Hansard, a written archive that anybody can access.’

Mrs Murray is clear: every call, letter or email to her is logged on her IT system. 29,500 have been entered since May 2015.

‘Every email that comes in, I see. Every piece of correspondence that comes in, I see.’

The Cornish Times Facebook page has had regular comments from people who say they’ve contacted Mrs Murray, but heard nothing back.

‘Everybody who contacts us gets a hard copy letter in reply so I have an audit trail: sometimes when people make contact through the internet they spell my name wrong – it’s two ‘l’s on Sheryll – or they turn out not to be a constituent.

’My staff and I are there to help people, and we’ve helped so many over the last seven years. I accept that not everybody is going to agree with my politics and I accept that some people will be disappointed – but when I hear from constituents I can’t promise I will solve their problems, though I can promise I will do my very best.’

In a social media-led environment – in 2009 there were 18 million Twitter users worldwide; now there are 328 million people, says her election agent and partner Bob Davidson, fingers flying over his laptop – Mrs Murray wonders if people are as fully informed as they might be.

She has been condemned for ‘talking out’ Labour MP Andrew Gwynne’s proposal in the Commons about disability equality training for taxi and private hire drivers, but, she says, all such private members’ proposals have limited Parliamentary time and ‘I was talking when the time ran out’.

In fact, she says, she and Gwynne met the minister responsible the following week and the training measure was due to be included in forthcoming legislation when Parliament was dissolved for this election.

She has voted in favour of controversial proposals such as changes to disability benefits.

‘You have to look at it logically: can the country afford this? If the answer is “no” it’s the same as making a decision that you make in your own home when you can’t afford something.’

But the Government she supports has been able to afford a cut to the top rate of tax.

‘The top two per cent of taxpayers pay a massive proportion of the Treasury’s revenue. And if you increase corporation tax, companies would very likely move their head offices from the UK.’

As companies are doing because of the Brexit for which Mrs Murray was a strong campaigner?

‘Companies are opening offices in Brussels or elsewhere, but they’re not moving out, as they could do if corporation tax was increased.’

Does she think it seems she has supported a Government that draws back from making changes for higher-income taxpayers or corporations, yet does introduce changes for the disabled or for lower-income families?

No.

‘We are introducing a national living wage, we’ve increased the amount people can earn before they pay tax. If you put 1p on income tax for everybody, you would be reversing that help.

‘We are not taking away from the disabled. For example, the bedroom tax. Anybody who’s disabled is exempt. Pensioners are exempt.’

She points to what she has brought to South East Cornwall: the A38 footbridge at Carkeel, £1.1m towards the project to refurbish the old sardine factory in Looe for business and community use, £460,000 for workshops and employment in Millbrook, community minibuses across South East Cornwall, campaigning ‘since 1994’ on dumping in Whitsand Bay.

She has been behind the Marine Navigation Act, which she says has brought efficiency and economic benefits to authorities like Looe Harbour Commissioners, and the Deep Sea Mining Act covering the extraction of minerals from the seabed, which she says former Prime Minister David Cameron estimated could bring £30bn of income to the UK over the next 30 years.

‘Anything I wish I’d done differently? I’m learning all the time. One thing I wish I could have? A no comments button on Facebook!

‘If you want to make a comment about what I do as a Conservative MP elected on a Conservative manifesto, make sure you get all the information.

’I undergo a five-year job interview and 72,000 people get the chance to say whether I get the job or not.’