WHEN dawn breaks on June 8, Gwent's six constituencies will each have elected an MP to represent them at Westminster.

Across the UK all 659 seats are up for grabs. The winners will be itching to get on with, well, what exactly? What do MPs do?

Some of the more experienced politicians will be hoping to join the cabinet, which will be due for a post-election re-shuffle.

For the newcomers, and those who veer too often from the party line, a place on the backbenches beckons.

Although less powerful, backbenchers can make a difference, according to Judith Jarvis, Welsh director of Common Purpose - a non-political charity which exists to help people change things for the better.

A website set up by the organisation - CitizensConnection.net - cites former Pontypool MP Leo Abse as an example of a backbench MP who was able to make a difference by introducing the 1967 Sexual Offences Act as a private members bill.

This legalised homosexual practices, in private, between consenting adults in England and Wales.

Backbenchers also: represent their constituency in parliament; help constituents with problems; help shape government policy; sometimes oppose government policy; create new laws; campaign for their party.

The new MPs will be the first new intake since devolution. While many will be the same old faces as before, they will also have to adjust to the new political landscape. "We will be the first post-devolution MPs and we will have to carve a role for the future of Welsh MPs," said Kevin Brennan, the Cwmbran-born Labour candidate for Cardiff West. He believes that new candidates, with no memory of the old days, will find that adjustment easier.

Ms Jarvis said the decision of dual mandate AM/MPs to stand down from parliament means the new MPs will also have a new responsibility. "As well as representing their constituencies they will have a role representing Wales and the interests of the Assembly," she said.

What they have lost is much of the attention to which they were used. With the Welsh media paying more attention to the Bay, many MPs complain that the work they do is not being reported. At least during the election campaign, they will be happy to be the focus of attention again.