Tag Archives: MPs

AI Chatbots should not play a role in our parliamentary democracy

Last week, Mark Sewards, Leeds South West and Morley’s freshman MP, announced that he had created an AI chatbot version of himself, complete with a facsimile of his voice and an uncanny avatar. While Sewards has become the first MP to take such a step, this is not the first time that Neural Voice, the tech company behind the chatbot, has dabbled in politics; in 2024, they fielded an AI version of their chairman Steve Endacott as an Independent candidate in the Brighton Pavillion.

The West Yorkshire Labour MP said that his chatbot will “help strengthen the connection between an MP’s office and the constituents we serve” by allowing people to ask for help with local issues or policy queries and providing access to that support “24/7, 365 days a year”. However, this will likely have the opposite effect.

Prof Victoria Honeyman, a British politics lecturer at the University of Leeds, gave a nuanced verdict on Sewards’ chatbot. She said that if used to “answer simple messages, then most people would be relatively comfortable as we have in lots of different areas of our lives nowadays”, thus granting Sewards more time to focus on complicated casework. However, she conceded that it “might cause more upset” and “ people’s confidence in their MP” if mistakes are made when contending with more complicated, potentially emotionally challenging cases.

With Sewards admitting that his new chatbot is a “prototype”, he acknowledges that adjustments may be needed. It would be unfortunate if such adjustments were necessary as a result of of serious mistakes made by the AI that will negatively affect inquiring constituents. For a real-life example of AI failing under such circumstances, last year a bereaved Air Canada passenger (flying to attend his grandmother’s funeral) was misdirected by the chatbot to purchase a full price ticket rather than a bereavement discount ticket; having been told by the chatbot that he would be reimbursed the difference, Air Canada refused it. While this was an embarrassment for a private company, a community’s champion at Westminster making such mistakes would be a dereliction of duty. 

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What I really want from our MPs this Summer

MPs are now in their parliamentary recess. I know that for Lib Dem MPs, recess does not equal rest. They spend the time they aren’t in Parliament knocking doors, visiting every community in their constituency and generally working incredibly hard, as usual.  Yes, they might get home at a respectable hour more of the time and their inboxes get a bit more manageable – just a bit – but they are still on duty for well more than the average working week.

In the first year of the new Parliament, they have done wonders. Alistair, Jamie and Layla have all highlighted important issues as Select Committee chairs, Danny’s Bill has curtailed puppy smuggling, Roz has persuaded the Government to take climate and nature seriously, Max has been fighting for his sunshine bill, Christine has the promise of Government action to help bereaved children, David’s been standing up for coalfield communities,, Angus has been fighting for communities to reap the benefits of renewable energy. I could go on at length but you get the drift.

My hope for all of them this Summer is simple – please, please take a proper break.

A break where you go off-grid, mute everything and relax. Where you do whatever you need to do to switch off. I don’t care whether it’s hiking in the mountains, lying on a beach reading proper trash with no informational value whatsoever (see the Guardian’s advice for a perfect beach read),  participating in the family beach tennis tournament, playing Mario Kart in your pants, cycling around France, sailing in the Med, going to Disneyland or simply sleeping. And do this for at the very least two weeks at once.

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Should MPs have second jobs?

There’s been a bit of a stooshie this week about SNP MP Philippa Whitford earning a small fortune working as a locum consultant for the NHS. From the Irvine Times (so I don’t have to link to the Daily Fail):

It’s been revealed that Philippa Whitford MP worked seven times for the cash-strapped hospital over the Christmas period.

The SNP’s Westminister health spokesperson earned £57.60 an hour on August 20-21, the equivalent of £490 a day, as well as working on September 25 during conference season.

But Dr Whitford says it is “absolutely ludicrous” to make an issue of her work saying it had no effect on her parliamentary duties.

This, for me, is an example of bashing political opponents for the sake of it. If MPs want to do other work outside Parliament, that’s up to them and their constituents. In some cases, it’s particularly important that they do, if they have professional skills to maintain. If they are working in public services, they will also have an insight into what is going on in these services and the pressures that people are under. 

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Should MPs take second jobs? Majority of Lib Dem members say ‘No’.

Lib Dem Voice has polled our members-only forum  to discover what Lib Dem members think of various political issues, the Coalition, and the performance of key party figures. More than 600 party members have responded, and we’re publishing the full results.

54% of Lib Dem members say ‘No’ to MPs taking second jobs

Which of the following best reflects your view?

    29% – Some MPs continuing to do second jobs (in medicine, law, business etc) keeps them in touch with working people, and is better than having a House of Commons made up of just full-time politicians

    54% – MPs

Posted in LDV Members poll | 4 Comments

Opinion: Is it too much to ask that our MPs understand the health impact of air pollution?

The events of last week in Woolwich totally dominated the media, and quite rightly so. However there was an opinion poll that was published last week that also deserves some attention.

In April Dods interviewed 101 Members of Parliament – that is almost one in six of them – about their attitudes towards air pollution as a contribution to premature deaths.  The MPs interviewed were broadly representative of Parliament, with 47 Conservative MPs taking part, along with 40 Labour MPs, 9 Liberal Democrat MPs and 5 MPs from other parties.

Why is this poll so significant?

The simple answer is that …

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