17 June 2016
Following the death of Labour MP Jo Cox, Professor Philip Cowley writes in the Conversation on the increasingly involved role MPs have in their local constituency. “Fifty years ago, MPs may have visited their constituency occasionally – promising to visit every four months was not unusual – but few lived there. Nearly all MPs now have a home in the constituency they represent… MPs will also frequently say that they value the interaction with voters. Some describe it as the most fulfilling part of their job and some also claim to find it useful in alerting them to policy failures and problems. It is a difficult, time-consuming, at times frustrating and at other times rewarding, part of the job. It should not also be dangerous.”
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Click here to listen to Professor Cowley on BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour
