MPs surveying their constituents

The old view of the representative process was that on policy issues MPs formulated their ideas, and then sought to 'sell' these to their electorate. In other words, individual politicians and political parties sought to promote their ideology, rather than responding directly to constituents demands. This is not to say that there was not interaction with the elected representative, but it tended to be on local and/or non-partisan issues.

However, a political marketing approach stresses that political actors in constructing their policies actively seek out citizens' views. I have some problems with how this might be achieved methodologically, especially Labour's famed focus groups and opinion polls under Tony Blair organised by Philip Gould. However, of greater attraction is when individual MPs seek their constituents opinion. There are a number of MPs who do this well, and Lynne Featherstone's blog contains a recent example of such political market research.

Obviously Lynne Featherstone is shaping the answers through the questions she sets, but nonetheless it provides a good opportunity for constituents to respond on issues of relevance to them. In short, they are encouraged to believe that their opinions count. The key to this tactic of engagement working is that the results are publicised, and the MPs response to the findings made clear. My only criticism is that it is difficult to see if Lynne has made such feedback publicly available before. It may be that she has, but if so it is not easy to find (perhaps a link to it from this years survey would help).