Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions

The Westminster Parliament is the heart of democracy in the United Kingdom. But in this age of widespread political disenchantment, how do the British people view the nation's supreme representative body? The Hansard Society's annual Audit of Political Engagement recently found that 75% of people agree that a strong Parliament is good for democracy, yet only a third are satisfied with how the institution works at the moment.

In an effort to shed further light on the public's complex relationship with Parliament, we commissioned ComRes to conduct a poll examining people's attitudes towards the institution. The results reveal strikingly low levels of knowledge about Parliament, as well as some surprising perceptions about its role.

• Just 32% of people agree that they ‘have a good understanding of the way Parliament works'
• Only one in two members of the public are confident that Parliament is not the same thing as government
• Just over half of people (53%) have an interest in Parliament
• Younger people (aged 18-34) and women are more likely to want to know more about Parliament
• Nearly half of people agree that Parliament undertakes important functions that no other body can undertake
• An overwhelming majority of people feel that that Parliament is unrepresentative of  British society
•  Only 19% of people agree that Parliament is ‘working for them'

The full report is available to download free here: Parliament and the Public: Knowledge, interest and perceptions.

The full ComRes poll results are available to view free here: ComRes Public Poll Results