The role of an MP is to.......?

[cee-dee]

Currently, it appears that the MPs seem to think that their role at Westminster is to promote their own viewpoint?

The role of an MP is supposed to be that of a person representing the view of their constituents but how many actually seek out the view/opinion of their constituents on current affairs?

If an MP actively sought the views of constituents and found that their overwhelming opinion was for one particular course of action which was directly opposed to their own opinion, which way should they vote if it comes to that?

Do they consider "I know what's best for them" or do they vote along with the preference of their constituents? 

[astrologica]

Ah,,...CeeDee, this is the crux of the matter. There are hundreds of MPs sitting who vote against the wishes of their constituents. Here in Wales, there was an overwhelming vote to Leave at the time of the Referendum, but the Members in the Welsh Assembly must have been asleep at the time. They have totally ignored that vote, and are still pursuing a path that leaves us tied to the EU. My own view is that in any vote , the MPs should be voting in line with votes of the majority of their constituents during the referendum, and not what they 'think is best' for them. 

Even Philip Lee, who crossed the floor of the house yesterday to join the Lib Dems, is an MP whose constituents voted with a majority to Leave. Their duty and purpose as an MP should be spelled out plainly for them, so there is no self interest. What a mess.

[kidmore_kats]

So by your logic, John Redwood, a leading Brexiteer, should actually be supporting Remain because that's what about 56% of his Wokingham constituents did in the referendum?

[astrologica]

Exactly! Providing all MPs voted according to the majority votes at referendum, we would have a true majority mandate. And in that case, we should have left the EU already, and begun making our country great again.

[upthecreekyetagain]

The electorate vote for a person not a puppet.

I don’t know about you but I vote for the person whose views on various topics match my own in the majority of cases knowing that I disagree with their views on others.

The real problem is not that MPs don’t know their electorate but that the vast majority of voters know nothing about their MPs but simply cast their vote based on a party label. 

[kidmore_kats]

Perhaps you could drop John Redwood an email then, see what he says

The true role of the MP is to represent his/her constituents, whether the voted for him, did not vote for him or did not vote at all. ("O" level British Constitution Syllabus).

I live in Sir Oliver Letwin's constituency. I did not vote for him, i would never vote Tory, however I fully support his actions in parliament and have sent him a message of support as he is representing my views.

As for making this country great again, just populist rhetoric that means nothing. The Great in Great Britain refers to it's geographical size, nothing else

[astrologica]

I would be perfectly happy to email Mr Redwood with my views, but there would be absolutely no point. He, like all the other MPs voting against their constituency majority, are not listening. They are voting 'as they know best'. This is supposed to be a democratic country. All those people who voted Leave in the referendum are being shown that their vote does not count. That Leave majority decision must be upheld.

'Populist rhetoric ' 😀 When I say Great, I mean Great, in every sense of the word.

I wonder....would you love Mr Letwin so much if he were not representing your views?

[suzieseaside]

The entire Brexitfarce has shown the true nature of our politicians. They have confirmed the population's long held suspicions no doubt, but it's still something to witness on a daily basis

So much hypocrisy and lying by those meant to work on our behalf in the name of so called 'democracy' and not having the balls to state their real intentions.

So many statements of unsubstantiated 'facts'. So much fearmongering about every aspect of a hard brexit, even hold ups at calais-dover in spite of the French customs chief summing up: " C'est Bulls***'. All reassurances ignored now no one trusts anyone.

This applies to many on both sides of the 'debate' aka hysterical rants, but I can't help but see it more evident in the remoaners.

The word democracy has become a meaningless justification for an opinion that any self-serving individual wants it to be.

[upthecreekyetagain]

We are a democracy - there was a General Election in May 2017 at which point the electorate were well aware of the various Brexit ‘arguments’.

You say that MPs are not listening to their electorate yet their views on Brexit were well known, (as was their voting record on the matter in Parliament), at the time of the election.  Presumably the majority of an MPs constituents agreed with their MP’s stance on Brexit otherwise surely they wouldn’t have voted for them.  

[suzieseaside]

In 2017 a lot of the population would have probably assumed that the results of the referendum would be implemented.

In relation to ceedee's question, most of the public think that MPs should act according to the majority wishes of their constituents
Most MPs think they should be free to use their own judgement if it is in the 'National interest'. But the latter appears to be only a matter of opinion and is a useful excuse if they don't agree.

There's little to get round opinion as there is no way of knowing the exact consequences of a hard deal. We can trade on WTO rules and I don't believe half of the scaremongering.

But the remoaners are driving me mad with their hate and patronisation. I don't think it's appropriate for people like Greg **bleep** of the Beeb wishing (apparently) the brexiteers dead, the Borrocks to Brexit insulting slogan by a Sir no less (funny he could plaster his slogan everywhere but we get gardening leave if we mention the word spelled correctly on here 😆) or the F*** Boris slogans. It's just incitement for more aggro and is petulant and childish.

Still the nightmare was inevitable given the majority of remainer MPs vs the majority of leavers in the population.
Whether we stay or go I think most want to see the end of it and a 3 month extension until the end of January will achieve nothing, especially after yesterday when the EU can relax a bit.

[suzieseaside]

😆 Ha, Greg of the Beeb's surname got bleeped out. Ebad doesn't disappoint !!!

[cee-dee]

Your post came just as I was going to say that there's one small word missing from this fiasco. That word is "Thought".

"The People" thought MPs would accept the wish and word of "The People". They also thought that some sort of "deal" would be negotiated with the EU but failing that, they thought we'd leave with no deal anyway. They thought our MPs would accept what was happening but never thought there'd be such back-stabbing and downright self-serving amongst parliamentarians.

The latest round of such behaviour has completely ended any chance of re-negotiating "The Deal" with the EU.

I think "The People" have now realised the answer to that old question "You know what thought did?"

[suzieseaside]

Quite so, and there's another word which now has a different meaning apparently. The People and their vote. Silly me, thought we had a People's vote 3 long years ago.

Now we read that 29 million or similar didn't vote hence their views were not heard, with the implication that they would all vote to remain. Am I supposed to feel sorry for the lazy drunks and stoners in this town who couldn't be bothered to get over their hangovers and walk 200m to the polling station? And there were a lot of them ranting the next day.

[cee-dee]

If it wasn't clear before, it is now that MPs have more regard for their own position than that of "The People".

Ian Blackford has said (not long ago) that Boris "...Must accept the will of this house..." Really? What about him accepting the will of "The People"?

[upthecreekyetagain]

Wasn’t one of the arguments put forward by the Brexiteers that they wanted Parliament to be ‘sovereign’?

Don’t  seem so keen on the idea now!

[kidmore_kats]

The referendum was held 3 years ago. Approximately 17.5 million people voted to leave the EU.
It is estimated that up to 1 million of those people are now dead.
So it's not all bad news, and at least worth a second vote so that those who will have to pick up the pieces of this idiocy will have a say in their future, something denied of them so far.

[astrologica]

A million Leave voters dead!😀😀😀😀😀😀 So Remain voters have at last found the secret of eternal life, and none of those have popped it since the referendum! Give us a break! The excuses that Remoaners come up with...they take your breath away. It doesn't matter how many have died...on either side. That was a democratic referendum and the promise was that the result would be carried out. The snivelling , whining, moaning has to stop. Suck it up. Remainers lost.

[astrologica]

The fearmongering reached new heights tonight...one whinging whining remoaner was discussing the government ordering body bags.....

[kidmore_kats]

You're not going to get your no deal Brexit, so suck it up and live with it.
Your campaign was built on lies and ignorance, which five seconds of my time reading the threads on here by people like you simply confirms. You are irrelevant. Deal with it

[pillarboxred]

Your vote isn't worth the paper it is crossed on.