Firstly I would like to say that I really like your website and it is a fantastic tool for finding out about the work completed and general views of an MP.
There is however one thing that leaves me feeling lost, and that is the alerts that let me know when an MP has voted and how. It is great to see how an MP voted for sure, but where I feel lost is on the detail of what it is they actually voted for. When I have visited your webpage and clicked on the link that says “read the debate that it was part of” I often feel that I am none the wiser as to what the MP has voted for.
I know this is probably a big ask, but I feel your website would be so much more engaging and user friendly if you could in someway summarise the pro’s and con’s of each vote so it would be easy to understand the voting record of each MP and question them on it if someone so wished. For example a button that says “Find out what this vote was about” which then links you to a bullet pointed summary of what the vote was about (including a summary of pro’s and con’s at the top of the debate) -
Pro’s
Allows more transparency within parliament
Con’s
Is expensive and could mean MPs have to spend extra time completing bureaucratic documents.
I am not sure if this idea is feasible (as I am sure it is not as simple as I would like it to be), but if this were possible I would be much more engaged in the voting activities of my MP since I currently feel a little lost when I try and read a lot of the debates.
Obviously, compiling such pros and cons would be difficult to do in a neutral way and would require even more editorial input that we don't have resource for. I'm adding it here in case it sparks ideas around tasks that volunteers might be able to do, eg in a clearly marked area around votes where one or more volunteers could thrash out the pros and cons between them.
A user writes:
Obviously, compiling such pros and cons would be difficult to do in a neutral way and would require even more editorial input that we don't have resource for. I'm adding it here in case it sparks ideas around tasks that volunteers might be able to do, eg in a clearly marked area around votes where one or more volunteers could thrash out the pros and cons between them.