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How representative is the Westminster Parliament? (40 marks)
The Westminster Parliament is one of the oldest parliamentary systems in the world
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Alongside these roles, Parliament is there to represent those
who elected them and gave them the political power that they possess
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Representative government is a form of government which involves elected representatives (i
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MPs)
using political powers to carry out the decision-making on behalf of the public
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Here, they can meet and speak to
local residents and become more involved with local issues
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This direct contact means that the MP
is able to highlight the issues raised by their constituency in Parliament or to the appropriate
governmental department
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Despite this, the current political voting system in the
UK (first-past-the-post) means that the number of votes a political party receives during a general
election is not necessarily proportionate to the number of seats that they gain in the House of
Commons
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This is the problem caused by our electoral
system; because the ruling party has the majority of seats in Parliament, the legislation proposed by
the government is more likely to be successfully and quickly passed through the House of Commons
as the MPs will want to avoid the party whip questioning their commitment to the party meaning that
occasionally MPs will not represent their constituents very well
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The Burkean argument addresses the issue of what an MP should do when required
to vote on a piece of legislation
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This is where the majority of the constituent’s views
should be the only factor that influences votes on issues of morality such as the Same Sex Marriage
Bill, 2013, and the MP should not let their personal views on such issues affect the vote (i
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if their
constituents want the MP to vote for the legislation, but the MP personal wants to vote against it,
they are required to go with the will of the people)
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However, the Burkean argument also assess non-representative models
including the mandate model
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The party has specific views on certain issues and as a member of that particular party, they are
expected to vote in line with what the party wants
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In free votes, the party whip can be withdrawn and the MP is able to vote
without their peers knowing what their vote was
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g
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Here, her personal morals influenced the vote
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This means that government Bills can be scrutinized
by a wide range of people who are experts in their fields and who have who have personal life

experiences which enable them to assess whether the legislation would be effective or not
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This
means that they can represent members of the public indirectly, by evaluating the impact of legislation
on members of society
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The Law Lords were removed from the House as part
of the Constitutional Reform Act 2005, which allowed a separation of powers to occur between the
Judiciary and Parliament
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This therefore means that they are not accountable to the public
and are unlikely to have been able to consult members of the public in the same ways that MPs can
communicate with their constituents
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Likewise, Life Peers are appointed
for the rest of their lives and therefore cannot be removed once appointed
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Finally, the Lords themselves are not socially
representative of today’s modern British society; the House is made up of predominately older, white,
middle-class men (e
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the average age of the Lords is 70)
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The Westminster Parliament is not a microcosm, but rather, a meritocracy
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Approximately 33% of the current MPs attended a
public school, whilst only 7% of the general population attend them
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The same applies to Oxbridge graduates, where 1/3 of
MPs attended one of the two universities
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But it does mean that politicians have very high standards of education which allows them to use their
knowledge to govern the country more effectively than those who will have a lower standard of
education
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51% of the electorate are
female, whereas only 22% of MPs are female
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There is also
a growing number of MPs who come from minority backgrounds and do win seats in parliament such
as Rushanara Ali who is a female, Bengali Muslim who was elected by her constituency, Bethnal Green
and Bow suggesting that Parliament is slowly becoming more representative of today’s society
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Individually, MPs do successfully listen to, and represent
the views of their constituents as they run weekly surgeries that allow them to directly hear from the
people they represent
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On the other hand, the voting system in the UK means that in some elections,
votes are wasted or will lead to an ‘elective dictatorship’ meaning that voters can be under
represented in the House of Commons
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Party whips also will prevent MPs from
supporting the views of their constituents if they do not agree with party policy, and therefore, MPs
feel forced to ignore the people who voted them into power to prevent their loyalty to the party being
questioned or undermined
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Issues
surrounding hereditary peers also suggest that the Lords are not representative of the people as they
simply get the role without any government appointment
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But, the meritocracy of Parliament works because it prevents people who are
unable to fulfil the role of an MP from being appointed and means that Parliament runs efficiently and
can carry out its representative function

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