(YES) Evaluate The View That Parliament Is Representative Of The Electorate

Intro

This essay considers how Parliament can be judged as 'representative' in 3 key ways: how democratic it is, how well it represents the interests of the public and how directly/descriptively representative it is.

• overall disagree

P1

Theme: How Democratically Representative Is Parliament?

For: Arguments That Parliament Is Representative Of The Electorate

The House of Commons can be seen as representative as it is democratically elected on a regular basis, with each MP representing a relatively small number of voters.

This means that voters are able to hold their representatives to account and remove them if they judge them to have not represented them effectively, by voting for a different party/candidate.

After Conservative MP Christopher Davies was convicted of providing false expenses claims, he was replaced by Liberal Democrat candidate Jane Dodds in the 2019 Brecon and Radnorshire by-election.

Each MP has to win a plurality of voters in their constituency in order to get elected, whilst many win a majority of votes.

In South Staffordshire in 2019, for example, Gavin Williamson won 73% of the vote.

Arguments That Parliament Isn't Representative Of The Electorate

The House of Lords is unelected, yet still holds significant powers to influence policy, scrutinise the government and delay legislation.

Rather than being elected, most members of the House of Lords are appointed by the House of Lords Appointments Commission or by party leaders at the end of a Parliament/Prime Ministers after leaving office.

Further, there are still 92 hereditary peers and 26 'Lords Spiritual', who are bishops from the Church of England.
This can be seen as fundamentally unrepresentative, as those who aren't elected shouldn't have major power in a democracy

Party leaders, and therefore Prime Ministers, are selected by their parties rather than by the electorate, with the two most recent Prime Ministers (Sunak and Truss) not being party leaders in an election, yet seeking to implement significant political changes.This can be seen as fundamentally unrepresentative and a way in which the power of the people is limited.

The House of Commons is elected using the First Past The Post (FPTP) voting system, which is very unproportional and unrepresentative in comparison to other voting systems.

In the 2019 election, for example, the Conservative Party won 56% of the seats in Parliament with just 43% of the vote.

As it is a simple plurality system, many voters resort to tactical voting rather than being able to effectively vote for the party they support.

Judgement:

Overall, there are therefore key ways in which Parliament isn't representative of the electorate in terms of being democratic. + The House of Lords is unelected and therefore fundamentally undemocratic, whilst there are key flaws to the House of Commons, particularly due to the unrepresentative nature of the FPTP voting system.

P2

Theme: How Well Does Parliament Represent The Interests And Views Of The Public?

For: Arguments That Parliament Is Representative Of The Electorate

The relatively small size of most constituencies, and the fact that a single MP is responsible for those who live within the constituency, result in effective representation of local interests and a strong link between the constituency and MP.

MPs handle correspondence from their constituents and problems their constituents have and hold weekly constituency surgeries.

MPs also represent their constituents' interests in Parliament.
For example, in October 2022, 33 Conservative MPs rebelled against Liz Truss' government and abstained in a vote on banning fracking, despite the government ordering them to oppose it, including many MP Mark Fletcher of Bolsover which had a strong local movement against fracking in the area.

Both the House of Commons and House of Lords also represent the population as a whole on issues they care about, including holding the government to account, and reflect the public's mood.

This could be seen in 2013, when Parliament listened to the public and voted against military action in Syria.

It can also be seen following the Partygate scandal, with the opposition in Parliament scrutinising the government in PMQs, debates and select committees, reflecting the public's outrage.

Against: Arguments That Parliament Isn't Representative Of The Electorate

On the other hand, MPs often don't vote according to their constituents' wishes, instead they almost always vote according to how they are whipped to do so, in order to keep in favour with their party and climb the party ladder, therefore giving themselves a chance of becoming a minister.

In the current Parliament, the vast majority of MPs have rebelled against the party line less than 2% of the time, with just 14 MPs rebelling more than 5% of the time and the highest percentage of rebellions being David Davis (Conservative) at 12.6% of the time.

Over 90 MPs, the vast majority of whom are Conservative MPs, have second jobs which can be seen as distracting them from representing their constituents.

By January 2023, MPs had collectively received over £15m from second jobs since the 2019 general election.

Theresa May alone received £2.5m from giving speeches, including many to private equity firms in the US.

It can be argued that MPs focus too much on representing their constituents rather than performing the other key functions of Parliament, especially scrutiny of the executive.
It can be argued that casework in particular should be dealt with by other agencies, such as councils.

Labour MP Yasmin Qureshi representing Bolton South East, for example, reported that her team handled over 4,200 issues raised by constituents in the first half of 2021, particularly in relation to the mental health consequences of COVID.

Therefore, representation of constituency interests can be seen as damaging the representation of the public overall and the other function of Parliament, such as scrutinising the government and passing legislation,

A significant proportion of members of the House of Lords don't take their role of scrutinising the executive and representing the public seriously.

Judgement

Overall, in terms of representing the issues that their constituents and the public care about, Parliament is somewhat representative.
Though MPs seek to represent their constituents and the wishes of the public as a whole, they are limited from doing so especially by the whipping system.

P3

Theme : How Directly/Descriptively Representative Is Parliament?
For: Arguments That Parliament Is Representative Of The Electorate

62 MPs in the 2019 Parliament (nearly 10%) are LGBT+, compared to an estimated 3.1% of the UK population.

There have also been attempts by parties and the House of Lords to improve direct representation in Parliament.

Parties have used a range of methods to try and improve direct representation, including using all-women shortlists and headhunting/mentoring promising candidates from minority backgrounds.

This has resulted in some improvements in direct representation in the House of Commons. After the 1997 election, just 18% of MPs were women and there were just 9 MPs from minority ethnic backgrounds.

The House of Lords Appointment Commission also seeks to appoint Peers with a range of backgrounds.

Of the 63 appointments made between 2000 and 2014, 13 were from a minority ethnic background.

Some argue that Parliament isn't required to be a microcosm of society and that minority groups can be listened to and represented by Parliament even if they're not directly represented.

Arguments That Parliament Isn't Representative Of The Electorate

Parliament remains highly unrepresentative in terms of gender, race and educational background, amongst other ways.

After the 2019 election, just 34% of the House of Commons and 29% of the House of Lords are women, compared to over half of the population.

After the 2019 election, just 10% of the House of Commons and 7.3% of the House of Lords are from minority ethnic backgrounds, compared to over 18% of the general population.

After the 2019 election, 22% of the House of Commons and 57% of the House of Lords went to private schools, compared to just 7% of the general population.

Further, 85% of the House of Commons went to university, compared to 42% of the population, and 19% went to Oxbridge.

Of Rishi Sunak's first cabinet, 61% went to private schools and 45% went to Oxbridge.
This lack of direct representation can be seen as a big problem, not only because it is unjust and a representative parliament would have symbolic value, but also because it would lead to representatives who are better able to understand the wishes of the population and who can broaden the political agenda.

For example, a male dominated parliament is unlikely to fully understand or seek to address a lot of the discrimination women face in society.

There are many reasons for the lack of direct representation in the House of Commons: It doesn't have a party list electoral system where lists could be made representative.
Instead, MPs are selected by selection panels in local constituency parties, which are often made up of older, white middle aged professionals who are likely to select people similar to them and discriminate against those who aren't.

Those who are discriminated against in society are less likely to put themselves forward, as they lack the resources to do so and would face significant discrimination and danger if elected

Judgement

Overall, despite attempts to improve direct/descriptive representation in Parliament, Parliament remains very unrepresentative in this regard, particularly with regard to gender, race and educational background.
This should be seen as a major problem in terms of representation, as it leads to the views and interests of marginalised sections of the population being disregarded and unrepresented in policy formulation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the extent to which Parliament is representative of the electorate is limited.
The House of Commons is elected and MPs do seek to represent the interests of their constituents, however this is outweighed by the fact that the House of Lords is fundamentally undemocratic, MPs usually vote according to the party whip and the fact that both houses of Parliament under-represent women, ethnic minorities and those who didn't go to university.