THE role of an MP is to stand up for the interests of their constituents.

It's easy to be cynical about this, and some are better at it than others, true, but if an MP is doing their job they'll listen to the views of the people they represent and campaign on their behalf, using the not-inconsiderable weight of a seat in the House of Commons to do so.

That’s what Islwyn’s Chris Evans was doing when he took part in a march against plans by Caerphilly Council which could see leisure centres across the borough closed to save costs.

Lots of people in Caerphilly are worried about the idea, so Mr Evans joined them in lobbying the council to think again. Simple.

At least you would have thought so.

The leadership of the council are fully entitled to be less than pleased about the opposition to the plans, but leader Cllr David Poole took things more than a little too far when he wrote to Mr Evans criticising him for taking part in the march earlier this month.

The question has to be asked what Cllr Poole and his colleagues in the Labour-run authority thought was going to happen. Surely they didn't expect Mr Evans - also Labour - just to roll over and let them go ahead with contentious plan out of some party loyalty?

As if that wasn't bad enough, Cllr Poole also accused Mr Evans of failing to engage with the council directly – despite the MP saying he had asked for a meeting with the council leader, only to be told he was not available until after Christmas.

Caerphilly council doesn’t have the best public image in the wake of the ongoing senior officers' pay scandal, which at last count has cost taxpayers in the borough more than £50 per household - although, in the interests of fairness, it should be noted this didn't happen under Cllr Poole's watch.

So why Cllr Poole and his cabinet colleagues have chosen to pick an unnecessary political row makes little sense.

Everyone knows councils need to make cuts, and when you're dealing with public services there's no good way of doing this.

But to muddy the waters with an unnecessary political spat paints a picture of a council more concerned with its public image than respecting the right of elected politicians to stand up for their constituents and making the right decisions for people in the borough.

Did the level of opposition to the leisure centre closures come as a surprise to the council? Surely they can't have been that naive?

Unfortunately this is symptomatic of the wider picture in Labour at the moment.

One look at Twitter and you'll see a party deeply divided over loyalty to Jeremy Corbyn and widespread opposition to Brexit.

One wonders what they thought would happen after electing an openly Eurosceptic leader – twice.

And in Wales the race to succeed Carwyn Jones is getting nasty, with reports of some fairly underhand tactics on the part of the camp in favour of one candidate in particular.

Meanwhile we're just months away from leaving the European Union without a deal, and no effective opposition doing anything about it.

While there are constituency MPs on the ground like Chris Evans standing up for the people they represent, the people at the top of all parties are asleep at the wheel.