Author Archives: The Voice

As MPs head off on their Summer break, which will often include weeks of visiting every community in their constituencies, the House of Commons Library has produced a sort of “end of term report” which shows how much they have contributed in this Parliament from December 2019 to the beginning of this month.

To access the data, you need to go to this page and put in their constituencies. You will then see the four graphics for each of them.

You can see how many debates they have taken part in, how they voted, how many questions they have asked, how many words they have spoken, what Committees they are on and there’s even a word cloud which shows the words they use most. It’s hardly a surprise that people, health and community feature so strongly. As well as the names of their constituencies.

When you consider that the average length of a novel is around 90,000 words, and most of our MPs are well over that, it shows just how much they contribute to life in Parliament.

A few MPs’ local papers have highlighted that they are the hardest working MPs in their area.

The Edinburgh Reporter stated that Christine Jardine was Lothians’ busiest MP:

Earlier this year, Ms Jardine was re-selected as the Liberal Democrat candidate for Edinburgh West at the next general election, having first taken the seat from the SNP in 2017.

Christine Jardine MP said:  “It is a real privilege to represent the people of Edinburgh West in the House of Commons, and I see these figures as little more than a spur to do so much more.

“For me the most important thing is being available to constituents and anyone who lives in Edinburgh West can make an appointment to meet me in my office or at my surgeries around the constituency, to discuss any issues they may be having.

“So often what we do in Parliament is as a result of issues that constituents bring to the office, rather than any party policy or point to be made.

“But for me, these figures also prove that when people elect a Liberal Democrat, they get a Member of Parliament that will always fight their corner in Westminster.

“I am committed to making our community a better place to live and work for everyone, and I will continue to stand up for what is right for Edinburgh West.”

Behind a paywall, the Courier highlighted that Wendy Chamberlain was the hardest working MP in Fife and Tayside.

These figures are truly impressive when you consider that they only spend around 40 weeks of the year in Parliament and they do so much more work in their constituencies attending events, holding surgeries. That’s not to mention what they do on the media, going on things like Any Questions and Newsnight and the local press or what they do for the party, going to dinners and regional and state party conferences.

Here’s how many words each of our team has spoken in this Parliament, and the percentage of votes they have taken part in.

The OGs