MPs

MPs with a slim majority are more likely to tweet: crunching numbers of tweeting elected representatives

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Democratic Audit UK today posted a summary of results of research by James Donald who has been looking at the tweeting characteristics of Westminster MPs. It made me wonder about our local politicians. But first, the highlights from the UK-wide findings. Nearly 63% of MPs (408) had Twitter accounts in January 2013, while 37% were still abstaining. (Today, Tweetminster suggests the figure has risen marginally!) The findings showed that the younger an MP is, the more likely she/he is to … Read more

Why Northern Ireland should say Yes to the Alternative Vote

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Is it right that only three of Northern Ireland’s 18 MPs had the backing of over 50% of those who voted last May? Or right that another three had only one in three people vote for them? That is the situation that Northern Ireland found itself in last May after the only election that we place an X on our ballots rather than ranking our candidates by order of preference. On Monday the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) released … Read more

NI’s 13 MPs who take their seats “should work together”

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BBC NI’s political editor Mark Devenport notes an “outbreak of political harmony” on today’s Inside Politics programme between two of Northern Ireland’s newly elected MPs – the DUP’s Ian Paisley Jnr and the Alliance Party’s Naomi Long. The subject of agreement?  That, should the opportunity arise, the 13 NI MPs who take their seats should be prepared to work together – “on areas like finance and the defence of the local economy” – in any potential negotiations over support for the next government. As I … Read more