Does constituency focus improve attitudes to MPs? A test for the UK

Abstract

A substantial literature demonstrates that in advanced democracies the public generally prefer for MPs to be focused on their constituencies. However, prior research fails to prove that the general public is aware when MPs are doing so, and whether their views of the MP change correspondingly. I test this using a high-quality proxy for constituency focustalking about the constituency in the House of Commonslinking this to British Election Study survey data on perceived constituency focus and trust. I show that 'real' constituency focus strongly predicts perceived constituency focus and also predicts trust. As expected, these effects exist only for constituents who know (recall) their MP's name. While previous studies argue that the public want 'workhorses' who offer 'value for money' by speaking in Parliament, I instead suggest that the focus, not the volume, of activity can be a more productive route for MPs to develop trust.

Voted In, Standing Out: Public Response to Immigrants' Political Accession

“…5 The turn towards a focus on constituency services was set in motion by the post-war welfare state, which increased citizens' interactions with the state as they navigated a complex set of rules and eligibility criteria. More recently, reforms in Parliament-like the foundation of the Backbench Business Committee, which selects business based on constituency relevance-have further reinforced the centrality of constituency concerns (McKay, 2020). Although the ability of individual MPs to engage in redistribution is restricted by parliamentary institutions (e.g., voting in accord to the party whip), there is evidence that MPs often trade off their time to participate in government-opposition debate (one of their most fundamental resources) for constituency representation (Crewe, 2015).…”

“…Considering that MPs in the UK serve their constituents, evidence from candidate and 5 About 66% of British constituents can spontaneously recall the name of their MP; twice the recall level of US Member of Congress (McKay, 2020). An eighth of British respondents claimed to have met their MP personally (Cain, Ferejohn and Fiorina, 1984).…”

Parliamentary Representation: Should MPs Prioritise Their Own Views or Those of Their Voters?

“…There is a growing body of literature examining questions around parliamentary representation. These studies consistently show that voters prefer their elected representatives to directly reflect the views of their constituents in the legislative process (e.g., Campbell et al 2019;Carman 2006;McKay 2020), and we have a good understanding of how politicians carry out their duties from analyses of roll call data and parliamentary questions (e.g., Adler 2018;Kolpinskaya 2017;Saalfeld 2011). We also have emerging insights from cross-national studies about how politicians tend to perceive the role of MPs (e.g., Deschouwer and Depauw 2014;Dudzińska et al 2014;Sudulich et al 2020).…”

“…These studies consistently show that voters prefer their elected representatives to directly reflect the views of their constituents in the legislative process (e.g. Campbell et al, 2019; Carman, 2006; McKay, 2020), and we have a good understanding of how politicians carry out their duties from analyses of roll call data and parliamentary questions (e.g. Adler et al, 2018; Kolpinskaya, 2017; Saalfeld, 2011).…”

“…It does appear that voters want their elected representatives to act in local interest and prioritise the preferences of their constituents. Moreover, doing so contributes to higher levels of political trust (McKay, 2020), which is particularly important at the present time when levels of trust towards politicians and politics are low in Britain and beyond. Taken together, there are normative and practical incentives for candidates to take the view that MPs should prioritise the views of their voters.…”