Parliament for the people? Public knowledge, interest and perceptions of the westminster parliament

Parliamentary Affairs

Volumn 62, Issue 2, 2009, Pages 350-363

  Kalitowski, Susanna ^a  

^a Parliament and Government Programme   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 67650999460     PISSN: 00312290     EISSN: 14602482     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1093/pa/gsp001     Document Type: Article

References (57)

1. Britain now has one of the lowest political party membership rates in Europe. See K. Jefferys, 'Two Cheers for Democracy: involvement and interest in British politics since 1918,' History and Policy paper, 2008, www.historyandpolicy.org/papers/policy-paper-82.html.
2. Winston Churchill dubbed the House of Commons the 'shrine of the world's liberties'. Winston Churchill quoted in P. Hennessy, 'An end to the poverty of aspiration? Parliament since 1979', unpublished paper, November 2004, p. 23.
3. This article is based upon Hansard Society research for the Group for Information to the Public (GIP) of the Houses of Parliament. The findings were published in S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008.
4. See Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007; Hansard Society, Audit of Political Engagement 5, Hansard Society, 2008.
5. Hansard Society, Audit of Political Engagement 5, 2008, Hansard Society, p. 14.
6. Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007, p. 16.
7. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 4.
8. Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007, p. 16.
9. Ibid., p. 18.
10. A. Kelso, 'Parliament and Political Disengagement: Neither Waving nor Drowning', The Political Quarterly 78(3), 2007, 364-73.
11. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, pp. 4-5.
12. Audit 4 found that 44 per cent of people thought that the House of Commons had more power than the House of Lords - and 24 per cent did not know which House was more powerful. See Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007, p. 20.
13. The Hansard Society's Connecting Communities project found that participants who watched oral questions from the public gallery in the main Commons chamber generally reacted negatively towards them - and consequently felt isolated from Parliament and disinterested in its work. See V. Ram, Enhancing Engagement: What people think, know and expect of Parliament, Hansard Society, 2005, p. 19.
14. B. Winetrobe, 'Political but not partisan: Marketing parliaments and their members', Journal of Legislative Studies 9(1), 2003, 1-13.
15. See V. Ram, Enhancing Engagement: What people think, know and expect of Parliament, Hansard Society, 2005, p. 20.
16. J. Dillon and S. Goodchild, 'Martin Bell says Commons is like "malignant public school"', The Independent, 15 April 2001.
17. G. Rosenblatt, A Year in the Life: from member of public to Member of Parliament, Hansard Society, 2006.
18. Ibid., p. 57.
19. Ibid., p. 60.
20. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, pp. 5-6.
21. Our research suggests that men tend to overestimate their actual political knowledge, while women are more inclined to underestimate their knowledge. For example, while the percentage of men reporting a great deal or a fair amount of knowledge about politics is nearly 20 points higher than that of women, the proportion that can name their MP is only six points higher (47 per cent versus 41 per cent). See Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007.
22. Ibid., p. 5.
23. Ibid. Roughly equal numbers of men and women - a little over a quarter - neither agreed nor disagreed.
24. Ibid., p. 6.
25. Ibid., pp. 5-6. The data are based on the Institute of Practitioners in Advertising Social Grade (SG) classification.
26. Ibid., p. 6.
27. Sometimes 25-34 year olds even fared better than ABs, with 67 per cent of correlating 'ensuring that laws are enforced' with government, compared with 49 per cent overall - and only 57 per cent of ABs. While 44 per cent of this age group associated 'drafting major legislation' with government, only 37 per cent of ABs did the same and the overall average was 34 per cent.
28. The number of people who say they are 'very interested' in politics has remained stable since the 1970s. See Hansard Society, Audit of Political Engagement 5, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 35.
29. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 8.
30. V. Ram, Enhancing Engagement: What people think, know and expect of Parliament, Hansard Society, 2005, p. 30.
31. Ibid.
32. See Lord Puttnam (chair), Report of the Hansard Society Commission on the Communication of Parliamentary Democracy, Members Only? Parliament in the Public Eye, Hansard Society, 2005; A. Kelso, 'Parliament and Political Disengagement: Neither Waving nor Drowning', The Political Quarterly, 78(3), 2007, 364-73.
33. It is possible that the 53 per cent of people who claimed that they did not want to learn more about Parliament includes people who feel that they already know enough. See S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, pp. 8-9.
34. Ibid., p. 7.
35. Ibid., pp. 9-10.
36. Ibid., p. 8.
37. Ibid., p. 10.
38. Ibid., p. 8.
39. Ibid., p. 9.
40. Ibid., p. 7.
41. Ibid., p. 10.
42. A majority of people (62 per cent) say that the present system of governing could be improved quite a lot or a great deal. See Hansard Society, Audit of Political Engagement 5, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 22.
43. See M. Woolf, 'Cameron launches taskforce to "restore trust in politics"', The Independent, 5 February 2006.
44. Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007 p. 40.
45. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 11.
46. Only 5 per cent disagree. See Hansard Society, Audit of Political Engagement 5, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 32.
47. A quarter of people disagreed and another quarter was neutral. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 10.
48. Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement 4, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2007, p. 52.
49. Ibid, p. 52.
50. Ibid.
51. While 27 per cent agreed with the statement, 22 per cent neither agreed nor disagreed. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, 2008, Hansard Society, p. 11.
52. A little over a quarter (27 per cent) agreed with the statement and 27 per cent were neutral. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, p. 11.
53. Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, An audit of political engagement, Hansard Society & Electoral Commission, 2004, p. 63.
54. V. Ram, Enhancing Engagement: What people think, know and expect of Parliament, Hansard Society, 2008, pp. 24-25.
55. See especially Lord Puttnam (chair), Report of the Hansard Society Commission on the Communication of Parliamentary Democracy, Members Only? Parliament in the Public Eye, Hansard Society, 2005.
56. S. Kalitowski, Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions, Hansard Society, 2008, pp. 11-12.
57. In recent years, Parliament's internal organisation has been re-structured, particularly the communications and information departments, and there is now a fledgling communications strategy. There are five select committee media officers for the Commons, as well as one for the Lords. Greater press access to Parliament has recently been given to journalists and there has been some relaxation of the rules regarding the broadcasting and filming of material on the parliamentary estate. The parliamentary website has been upgraded and redesigned and the Parliamentary Education Unit has been expanded. In addition, an annual £10,000 communication allowance was granted to MPs to communicate with their constituents.