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Just one in 10 thinks Westminster ‘fit for the 21st century’ according to new poll

15 Sep 2019 2 minute read
Westminster at sunset

Only one in 10 people in the UK think the Westminster Parliament “works well and is fit for the 21st century,” according to a ComRes poll published today.

The poll commissioned by the Sunday Express also shows that just 14% think Parliament is “sufficiently representative of the nation’s views” and just 12% feel Parliament “can be trusted to do right thing for country”.

With don’t knows removed, 73% of those who wished to stay in the EU said Parliament was in desperate need of reform, with 85% of Leavers agreeing.


The poll comes two days after a YouGov poll showed that 31% of people in Wales would vote for Welsh independence from Westminster, rising to 41% if it meant Wales stayed in the EU.

“To say that Parliament is in desperate need of an overhaul is a gross understatement,” said ComRes’s chairman Andrew Hawkins.

“Just seven percent, or one in 14, British adults think that ‘Parliament works well and is fit for the 21st Century’.

“It is no exaggeration to describe the public mood towards Parliament as being at crisis point.

“Views towards Parliament have grown progressively more negative since 2016, driven initially by Leave voters frustrated at what they feared were attempts by Remain-supporting MPs to frustrate the referendum result.

“However, Remain voters have now turned hostile, to the point where the vast majority feel that Parliament is not putting Britain in a good light internationally, that it is not representative of the nation’s views and is putting political point-scoring before the interests of the country.

“No other institution could survive being as unpopular with the public but, from John Bercow’s unapologetic defence of Parliament last week, there seems little scope of significant change during this parliament.”


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Ann Owen
Ann Owen
5 years ago

Parliament is only a symptom of the real problem – that of the whole system which is unequal and reflects the colonialist past. In Wales we have another choice – independence!

Simon Gruffydd
Simon Gruffydd
5 years ago

I suspect a similar pattern would emerge if the Welsh were asked about their satisfaction regarding the Welsh Assembly. Much like Westminster it is trapped in its own bubble. It’s continuing reaction to the 2016 referendum results in Wales speaks volumes to how undemocratic, authoritarian and out-of-touch it has become.

John Young
John Young
5 years ago
Reply to  Simon Gruffydd

Agreed. Re your comment about ‘trapped in it’s own bubble’. The WAG has governed Wales in a similar way to the way Westminster governments have governed the UK, by concentrating wealth and investment in one area to the detriment of the rest of the country.

Many people say get rid of the Assembly because it’s not doing a good job. But it’s not the Assembly (the institution) that makes these decisions, it’s the party in power.

Replace Labour is the answer.

Jonathan Edwards
Jonathan Edwards
5 years ago

Two threads here. A Cross-party group of MPs have got their act together and are initiating and passing legislation. I approve of this because they are anti-Brexit and so am I. But I wonder why they have not emerged as a new political party in the 18/19th Century way, calling themselves “the Whigs” say. If they did they would carry on the Westminster way of doing things. They may yet do this. But we can all see past Brexit; the mish-mash of conventions allowing the Queen and PM to decide when Parliament sits, the non-separation of powers, Black Rod, and… Read more »

Steve Duggan
Steve Duggan
5 years ago

It’s no surprise Remainers are getting angry, they have been completely ignored by this right wing government for 3 years. Every focus has been on leaving. You might say that that was how the country voted but was the vote truly legitimate? In any other country the referendum would have had a super majority attached so that a clear unequivocal concensus was achieved. A result like this would have been instantly chucked out and another referendum set. So it should have been the case here too but the vote was highjacked by the far right of the Tory party. It… Read more »

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