Government Affairs Blog

Do MPs work for us?

The anti-road pricing e petition has generated a lot of media coverage not only over the issue itself but the more general debate about engagement with the voters over policy.  It also raises the question of how we see our parliamentary democracy.  One of the papers following the story reported a petitioner saying “MPs seem to forget they work for us”. 

This idea that Members of Parliament are our employees seems, on the face of it, to be correct.  There is even a website called “They Work For You” - http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ - where you can type in the name of your constituency MP and see their voting record. 

It is true that MPs are paid out of the public purse.  What we shouldn’t forget is that ours is a representative democracy and not a delegated system.  When the electorate cast their vote they are expressing support for either a political party or for the individual member of that party.  By sending that individual to Westminster for four or five years we are asking them to represent us and asking the MP to vote according to their views, principles or the party line.

The system we have does throw up some anomalies.  A New Labour supporter may find themselves voting for a rebellious backbencher or a traditional Tory might be placing their X by a Cameroon.  Many MPs do take on board the views of their constituents and will actively campaign for them.  A recent example of this is the Cabinet Ministers who are in direct conflict with their colleague the Secretary of State for Health over whether their local hospitals should be closed.

Some backbenchers will act as fierce critics of their party’s policies in Select or Standing Committees and then file through the lobby as directed by the Whips.  It may be imperfect but that is the system we have, so while they do work for us, they do so with implicit permission to make up their own minds.