Speaking for Parliament

Norton, Philip

Abstract

The UK Parliament in recent decades has seen significant structural and behavioural changes that have rendered it more effective in carrying out its core functions than at any time in modern political history. These changes have not impacted greatly on public perceptions of Parliament and its members. Parliament and parliamentarians have been the source of declining satisfaction. The public have been more influenced by their perceptions of parliamentarians’ behaviour than a results-based performance. Parliamentarians have not recognised the source of the dissatisfaction and have no clear institutional mechanism for responding to it. There is no one authoritative figure who can speak for Parliament. To combat public perceptions requires a proactive and collective response on the part of members of both Houses.

Citation

Norton, P. (2017). Speaking for Parliament. Parliamentary affairs, 70(2), 191-206. https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsw031

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Aug 24, 2016
• Online Publication Date: Sep 18, 2016
• Publication Date: Apr 1, 2017
• Deposit Date: Aug 30, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Aug 30, 2016
• Journal: Parliamentary affairs
• Print ISSN: 0031-2290
• Electronic ISSN: 1460-2482
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 70
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 191-206
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/pa/gsw031
• Keywords: Parliament, House of Commons, House of Lords, MPs, Peers, Crisis management, Public dissatisfaction, Institutional change
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/442679
• Publisher URL: http://pa.oxfordjournals.org/content/early/2016/09/17/pa.gsw031.full
• Additional Information: This is a description of an article which has been accepted for future publication in: Parliamentary affairs.