75 per cent of people don’t know who their local MP is, survey finds

About The Authors

9th June 2015 17:06 - Local Government

According to a survey by the charity, the Hansard Society, 75 per cent of individuals are not able to name their local MP.

The survey of 1,128 people discovered that just 22 per cent could name their local MP, a notably lower figure than 2011’s 38 per cent.

The report indicated that the public is not engaged by politics, with the amount of people, who said that they wouldn’t vote in the event of an election, doubling from 10 per cent in 2011 to 20% this year, the lowest rate it has been in 10 years.

Irrespective of the Eurozone crisis and the on-going debate of the UK’s European membership, 57 per cent of the respondents did not correctly acknowledge that British people elect party members to the EU parliament.

The Hansard Society said the number of people, who believe in the value of casting a vote, is dwindling. They went on to say that the concerning downwards spiral is raising “serious questions” about the parliamentary system of the UK.

When looking at the public’s attitude towards voting, the survey discovered that 41 per cent of the public are uncertain as to whether they’d vote in the event of another general election, in comparison with 48 per cent in 2014 and 58 per cent in 2013.

As well as this, just 12 per cent of those aged between 18 and 24 said that they were certain that they’d vote in a general election – a significant decrease from the 22 per cent who said the same in 2014 and the 30 per cent in 2013.

Of the respondents 58 per cent said that they would not vote, even if they were passionate about an issue.

23 per cent of the respondents said that they were happy with how the current MPs carry out their role – a decrease of 6 per cent since 2010.

Director of Research at the Hansard Society, Dr Ruth Fox, said of the findings:

"These results, coming on top of the low election turnouts last year, should be an urgent warning to all the political parties."

She added: "The public's improved view of Parliament can perhaps be explained by the increased profile of select committee activity in tackling issues such as phone-hacking and taxation of multinational corporations."

Other Local Government Research Findings

Other Latest Market Research Insights