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Hear about the roles and the voting process of the members of Parliament of the United Kingdom
Learn the roles of members of Parliament and examine their voting process.
© UK Parliament Education Service (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Article media libraries that feature this video: Parliament, United Kingdom, Evans, Nigel
CLAIRE WARD: The role of an MP is not just to represent constituents but to split your time between being in the constituency and in Westminster. In Westminster, you take part in debates, ask questions of ministers, help to scrutinize legislation, and vote for legislation or against it if you don't support it.
LEMBIT OPIK: An MP has got two jobs. In your local area, the MP is meant to fix your local problems. So if your school's all messed up and the electricity goes and you can't get it fixed, we are the people who are meant to sort out the problem. Down in Parliament and we actually make laws, so we decide how much money a school maybe gets. We decide what we get taught in school. So in a funny kind of way, what we do here affects everyone from 8 to 80.
NARRATOR 1: So do they have to vote as well, like we do with booths and crosses? I bet they've got cyber laser voting.
NARRATOR 2: Actually, they walk into rooms, one for yes, one for no. And they're counted as they walk back into the Commons.
It's not very technological, but it's been that way for hundreds of years. And it seems to work.
NIGEL EVANS: Much as I would like to be able to press a button yes or no, at the end of the day, I'd rather vote in person. And the big benefit to me for voting is that I will go into a lobby and there will be other members of parliament there voting alongside with me.
SPEAKER 1: The ayes to the right with 364. The noes to the left at 21.
NIGEL EVANS: If you're on the government's side, you'll have government ministers voting alongside you as well. And so you've got a fantastic opportunity for MPs to influence either ministers or indeed shadow ministers as to where policies are wrong or changes that you want to see happen.
SPEAKER 2: The ayes have it. Unlock.