The sociological reason of the representative function of a MP is that there are more male MPs than female therefore certain issues are dealt with in a masculine way, which also may put many women off politics as women aren’t treated as women according to some people e.g. in 1966 there were 96% male MPs in parliament and since then there has been a slow decrease in the percentage where in 2001 82% were male which shows/proves that there tend to be more male MPs than female. The other reason is that most of the MPs are middle-class where on the other hand there are a few which are working class e.g. 80% of Labour MPs are middle-class and only 13% of Labour MPs are working class. Also there are other factors such as many MPs are middle aged i.e. in early 40s – 60s as 70% of MPs are middle aged, many MPs are also white as racism kicks in where there are only a few non-white candidates in parliament who are also looked down upon e.g. A whole white town can not agree with a black MP being their MP so they vote against him and rule him out therefore non-white people are normally not given any chances to show their capabilities. Also many are well educated as 2/3 is graduates in either Oxford/Cambridge and mostly 95% have had post-secondary education. Another factor is that many MPs have worked in politics already or do it for a living and even have gained political experience in local governments.
The party is an important matter of the representative function of an MP since a MP also represents its party. Having support from a party is not a legal requirement as a MP can stand as an independent MP e.g. In 1997 Martin Bell was elected as an independent MP for the constituency of Tatton. Both main parties Labour and Conservative have their own procedures of choosing their candidates where on the other hand other minority parties also have their procedures but they also have more representation as they give others a chance to participate or more or less give everyone a chance to participate, Pluralism e.g. the green party, where they have a green MP, a green MEP etc. And so with the Liberal Democrats, the power is split between local and regional parties, and therefore ‘de facto’ there is greater local autonomy for local parties.
In constituency work that is also very important, MPs do this for a number of reasons. MPs do constituency work for selfish reasons and for some it enables them to build a personal vote that would help them get re-elected next time. Many Backbench MPs see their constituency work as very rewarding e.g. John Major enjoyed returning to Huntingdon constituency work even when he was a PM. The factors that affect the irrespective ness of MP’s views of constituency work are the increase in the size and scope of government activities, particularly the growth of the welfare state, greater sophistication of the electorate and its increasing volatility and it is seen as a method to gain approval within the party e.g. since 1998 all Labour MPs are given one week in three to work exclusively in their constituency. On one hand the MP has an increasing profile of its constituency work where on the other hand MPs are simply not qualified of things that is constituencies expect i.e. MPs have limited resources, limited power and lack of experience where very few MPs are qualified as social workers and civil rights lawyers.
Finally, there are MPs receiving some expressing their opinions in written form through pressure groups such as Amnesty International and may also be inspired by pressure groups but the MP does not bother to even look at these letters since once they know they are from pressure groups then they know it is specific for what they want and it is more of a demand rather than an advise.
For conclusion, MPs perform their representative function in their best interest and occasionally in the public’s best interest but what they do is that they themselves decide what is best for the public in comparison to letting the public decide what is best for them. There are also limited things MPs can do since they are not qualified to do other jobs as they don’t have any resources, they don’t possess sufficient power and they lack in experience, but however on the other hand they do have other duties like making of the law and scrutinising the exexcutive.
