What do voters want from their local MP?

Vivyan, Nick; Wagner, Markus

doi:10.1111/1467-923x.12128

What do voters want from their local MP?

Vivyan, Nick; Wagner, Markus

Authors

Professor Nick Vivyan nick.vivyan@durham.ac.uk
Professor

Markus Wagner

Abstract

This article summarises the findings from a study of what constituents want from their local Member of Parliament.1 We make use of a survey technique known as conjoint analysis, wherein we present a national sample of British voters with profiles of hypothetical MPs who vary randomly in their characteristics, activities and behaviour. We find that voters like MPs who are independent from the party line and who do not focus exclusively on national policy work. MPs' gender and experience matter far less to constituents. Overall, voters want a Parliament made up of strong-minded MPs who see their role as that of a constituency representative. This has important implications for parliamentary democracy in Britain.

Citation

Vivyan, N., & Wagner, M. (2015). What do voters want from their local MP?. The Political Quarterly, 86(1), 33-40. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.12128

Journal Article Type	Article
Online Publication Date	Jan 28, 2015
Publication Date	Jan 28, 2015
Deposit Date	Jan 27, 2015
Publicly Available Date	Jun 3, 2015
Journal	Political Quarterly
Print ISSN	0032-3179
Electronic ISSN	1467-923X
Publisher	Wiley
Peer Reviewed	Not Peer Reviewed
Volume	86
Issue	1
Pages	33-40
DOI	https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-923x.12128
Keywords	Constituency service, Members of Parliament, Rebellion, Representation, Survey experiments.

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Copyright Statement
This is the accepted version of the following article: Vivyan, N. and Wagner, M. (2015), What Do Voters Want From Their Local MP?. The Political Quarterly, 86(1): 33–40, which has been published in final form at http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/1467-923X.12128. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance With Wiley Terms and Conditions for self-archiving.