Lesson video

Hi, and welcome to lesson four exploring the political system in the UK.

Today we're going to look at what an MP does and the role of an MP in the UK's political system.

So as usual, you are going to need your notes from last lesson, you're going to need some paper a pen, a different coloured pen and a quiet place to work.

If you need to get any of those or move please do pause the video now and make yourself comfy and then come back and start the video.

So today we're going to explore three things we're going to look at what an MP is we're going to look at the roles an MP has and we're going to look at who can become an MP and how you can do that.

Okay, so let's have a look at what you can remember from the previous lessons.

Hopefully, you can answer these four questions.

So what does MP stand for? What is the name of an area an MP represents? How many MP's are there and where do MP's debate policy and laws? And you can either add these answers to your notes, or you can just say them out loud or just think about them.

It's up to you.

So hopefully, you got Member of Parliament for question number one.

Hopefully, you got constituency for question number two.

Hopefully, you got 650 for how many MPs are there.

And question number four hopefully, you got the House of Commons.

Now don't worry if you didn't get any of those and well done if you got them all.

And well done if you got the answers right.

Okay, so what is an MP? So an MP is a Member of Parliament.

And it's a person elected by all those who live in a particular constituency to represent them in the House of Commons, okay? And I suggest you pause the video now to make a note of that definition so you have it for a later stage.

So what roles does an MP undertake? So an MP will divide their time between the House of Commons in London and their constituency so the area in the UK they represent.

Okay, so they'll travel between either of them.

And the first thing I would like you to do, is I would like you to make a copy of that table which is there.

It's got three columns.

It's got House of Commons, both, and constituency.

And I'm going to show you a list of different things an MP undertakes, so that's the different roles and I want you to decide if the MP would undertake them in the House of Commons in the House of Commons and the constituency or just in their constituency, okay? So draw up the table and add the correct information to the correct column.

So here are the ideas and I'm just going to say that Select Committee is a group of people who focus on one particular issue.

So it might be that is an education Select Committee and that Committee focus on issues to do with education and a Bill Committee are people who meet to talk about a new law.

Okay, and both of those are pretty much done in the House of Commons.

But everything else should be.

You should be able to figure out.

Okay, so pause the video now and add these to the column you think they'd go into.

Okay well done for giving that a go.

So here, you can use your pen of a different colour to mark your own work.

So House of Commons, okay.

So they support the law making process so engage in debate and scrutiny.

So MP's will go to the Commons chamber and debate laws and scrutiny.

Now you might have seen during COVID-19 the House of Commons was moved online for a short period, but now many MP's are back in the House of Commons under strict social distancing measures so that work can take place there.

Also in the House of Commons they will ask the Prime Minister questions and they'll ask the other Ministers questions as well and in the House of Commons or in parliament or in the parliament building they'll work on Select Committees or Bill Committees.

Okay and I'm just going to say at this point you can contact Ministers or Prime Ministers if you're an MP through writing to them as well.

But most of the contact happens in the House of Commons.

Both, okay.

So they represent their constituents.

So that's probably the main job of an MP and that's done in the House of Commons and in the constituency.

They campaign for and promote party policies.

So whether they are talking about their party or policy back in the Commons they're talking about it in their constituency that's a really important thing they do.

Support the work of a government department if a Cabinet Minister.

Okay, so if they're elected into the Cabinet so if they're given a role in the Cabinet, I should say.

They'll do this.

It can be in London, but they'll also work on it when they're in their constituency as well and support the work of the opposition if in a shadow Cabinet or a Minister.

Again, they'll do this in London when they're together but they'll also continue this work during their constituency as well.

And just in the constituency, they will meet constituents to discuss the issues they're facing.

They will visit places of interest in their constituency, so schools or hospitals.

I don't know, maybe you've had your MP come in to visit your school.

So I know we have at the school I work at.

And they campaign for re-election or support of a party or support another party candidate.

So when it comes around for an election they will go and visit the constituents in their constituency to try to get them to vote for them.

Or if they're stepping down for whatever reason they will help support a new candidate to get elected for their political party.

So now you're going to meet an MP, okay.

So Ben Bradley is an MP and I'm going to ask you to watch a little video he made about his daily life and I'm just going to ask you to add any further information about the role he undertakes to your notes whilst you're watching the video, okay? Because obviously in the morning you just arrived in the office and looking through the order paper for the day which tells me what's going on in the chamber as well as my own diary.

First thing this morning there's a local business, Napit coming down to host an Electrical Safety Roundtable and tell lots of national businesses about the work that they're doing in our constituency Thank you for making your trip down.

It's an interesting time to visit, lots going on.

My job is to introduce the Chief Executive of Napit as a leading government approved and UKAS accredited body Napit has been providing a mark of professionalism and experts for the building services and fabric sector for over 25 years.

It also happens that they employ lots of people in my constituency, so we like them very much.

I am doing Politics Live this morning on the BBC for Prime Minister's Questions.

At lunch time.

This is College Green you can see the popup TV Studios behind me.

I'm just heading a little bit beyond it to Milbank, going to go talk about Brexit of course.

So that's the next thing on my agenda and then we'll head back over to Parliament for the Prime Minister's Questions Kicking the can down the road further already two and a half years into this thing and the biggest challenge that I get from my local businesses who are largely leave backing actually is the uncertainty and if we drag it out for longer if we can't find a solution before the 29th of March what chance of finding one after? Back at the BBC, just been to dump stuff in my office and head over to PMQ, it's at five to 12 so we have to run over there pretty quick.

We put in every week for Prime Minister's Questions see if we can get called to ask one and along with all the other oral questions for departments that happen don't get drawn very often, it's pretty competitive.

You can go up by appointment.

MP's stand up and down in the chamber all the time it's because they're trying to get caught by the speaker to ask a question.

We're headed over for the PMQs now and we'll catch up with you after.

Questions to the Prime Minister.

So PMQs is finished.

Same old sessions to be honest on Brexit obviously that we've seen a few times before now.

Hopefully that's coming to a head and we can get some conclusions in the next few weeks.

But this afternoon just checking the diary heading out and out to a number of meetings with lobbyists and colleagues talking particularly about financial education in schools connected with obviously the work I do on the education select committee.

Meeting the Vice-Chancellor of Nottingham Trent University about how we can work together more to deliver better education for kids in Mansfield more opportunities to work with them with the college and bring all of that together and also with conservative colleagues about communities like Mansfield about how we can deliver for working class communities in our part of the world and make sure we're working for people like you more effectively.

So lots do before we can head home this evening.

I'm off to to get through those.

Just missed the Division Bell going.

Rings across the whole of parliamentary assembly.

You see the screen saying division.

If you're voting in a chamber means I've got less than eight minutes to leg it from here in the officers over to Parliament and make sure I'm voting on the Tenants Fees Bill.

So I'm off, see you in a bit.

As many as are of opinion, say aye.

Aye.

Of the contrary, no.

No.

Division, to the lobby.

Division.

The meeting's over, heading back up this much more fancy staircase back to the office.

Actually voting finished earlier tonight which is a nice change.

Sometimes you're stuck here until middle of the night, gone ten o'clock but tonight we're finished here about six which is nice.

So I'm going to go and try and square away in the office and as it's Wednesday I'm back to the constituency this evening.

Back out to the train station managed to escape from Parliament on a Wednesday.

Which I try and do, get back Wednesday nights.

Too late to see the kids as usual but at least maybe catch my wife before she goes to bed.

Always trying to get back on a Wednesday night if I can.

I'd much rather be in the constituency the rest of the week than down there so in Mansfield tomorrow morning and Friday looking forward to catching up with everybody the rest of the week.

So hopefully you've got these, okay? So at the House of Commons they will attend specific events so for example Prime Minister's Question time is a weekly event what happens in the Commons and they also have to vote for things in the Commons.

So if they agree with a bill if they agree with a decision being made they take part in a physical vote in the Commons.

Both, so they might go on TV or the radio in London but might also do it in their constituency.

And meet with lobbyists, okay? So a lobbyist is someone who's trying to get a specific action or law into Parliament, okay? And the best way to do this is to meet someone who works in Parliament, so an MP.

So an MP might meet a Lobbyist both can be in the House of Commons, maybe in their office or maybe they'll meet them in London or somewhere else in the country but they'll also do this when they're back at home as well.

And their constituency, they will travel to and from here, okay? So what I would ask you now is just have a bit of a reflection on these three questions.

So I think the most important task of an MP is.

I think the most difficult task for an MP would be.

And I think the most enjoyable part of MP's job would be.

So just pause the video now and answer those three questions from what we looked at so far.

So your answer might be different to mine and that's fine, okay? Just as long as you've given it a go, kind of well.

So I think the most important task for an MP is representing their constituents and this is because this is what MP's are elected to do and if an MP does not carry out this role well the general public could lose their trust in politicians.

So if the public don't feel their views are being represented that might make them question the whole idea of our political system.

I think the most difficult tasks for an MP would be reading and understanding the bills.

So when a new law happens, okay? It would usually get passed between the Commons and the house of Lords and an MP has to read it so they can go and question the people who are opposing it.

These could be quite long they could be quite technical so I personally think that would be the most difficult part.

I think the most enjoyable part would be meeting the people you are representing and travelling to different places.

So I really like travelling so I think that would be a good part.

And this is because it must be quite fulfilling to meet those people who elected you to your position.

So who can become an MP? So in the UK you have to be a citizen of England, Scotland, Wales or Ireland.

you have to be 18 or above 18.

Now that is a big question in politics should we allow younger people or what? we have lessons on that topic in the citizenship curriculum.

You don't need certain set of qualifications so that means no.

you must have a degree in politics, that isn't needed.

Often people do have qualifications but you don't need them.

You must have the support and the authorization of a registered political party or you must be able to stand as an Independent.

You must receive 10 nominations of electors in the constituency you'd like to stand in.

So 10 people must support your decision.

And you can't be an MP if you work in some occupations.

So a judge, a police officer, or the armed forces and that's to make sure powers and things are kept separate.

And if you have certain criminal convictions which may result in you being in prison for a year or above then that also stops you becoming an MP.

Okay, so you don't need any certain formal qualifications but having some skills or the ability to do some things might be useful if you are an MP, okay? Now there are lots of these but I've listed four on this diagram here.

So we've got organisations skills we've got confidence in public speaking got logical thinking, and we've got listening skills, okay? So these are known as interpersonal skills.

So it means the skills you have by how you relate to others.

Why do you think that it might be important considering what an MP does, for an MP to have these skills? Okay, what I would like you to do is just jot some ideas down to answer the question.

Why do you think it's important that an MP has these skills? So why is it important that an MP has that organisation skills? Why is it important that an MP has confidence in public speaking? Why is important that an MP can think logically? And why is it important that an MP has listening skills? So pause the video now and just have a go at that activity please.

Okay, well done for having to go at that.

So I'm going to share with you my ideas again, you might have something a bit different but that's okay and if you want to add anything what I've got to your notes, then please do so.

You might want to use your different coloured pen for that.

Okay, organisation skills.

So it's important to have organisation skills as you're going to manage lots of different things and these things are going to take up a lot of your time.

So it's important that you manage all these different demands on your time effectively.

If you're organised I think that will really help.

Confidence in public speaking.

So again, you're going to need to be able to speak in public.

So you might have to address a large crowd in your constituency, maybe a meeting or when you're campaigning you're going to have to speak in the House of Commons, okay? So you're going to have to be able to put your point across clearly and accurately in front of a large group quite often.

Logical thinking, so if you're going to be at the House of Commons debating you're going to want to be able to think through things quite quickly, arrive at a conclusion and then put your point across all in a very short space of time.

Again you're going to have a lot of decisions to make lots of documents to read and you have to be able to process these in quite a logical way.

And active listening, okay? So you're going to have to listen to things quite a lot as an MP.

So if a member of your constituency comes and sees you you're going to have to be able to sit and listen to them and work through their issue.

And again if you're sat in the Commons you're listening to a debate, you're going to have to process the information what you're hearing.

So hopefully you've got some similar ideas for that and if not you can add any that you might be missing.

Okay so our final task for today's lesson is you're going to design a job description for a new MP, okay? A job description is a document which is given to someone who is applying for a job.

So it's their main duties and responsibilities.

And you're going to split your job description up into four different parts.

You're going to split it up into knowledge, into skills experience, and interpersonal skills, okay? So I've talked about all these but maybe you want to add some of your own thinking and if you want to challenge yourself you can maybe add some essential criteria so the things that they must have and desired criteria things that would be useful for them to have, okay? So you're going to design a job description for a new MP for these four different categories.

Now this is an example of a job description for someone who is doing a job in IT, okay? So you can see it lists the job you can see it lists the duties it lists their qualifications.

So that's what one looks like from outside politics.

I suggest you might want to use this possible layout this table, I do like laying things out in a table.

So you've got your duties at the top and then you've got your knowledge, your skills your experience, and your interpersonal skills then you've got your essential column.

So what essential knowledge what essential skills, what essential experience what essential interpersonal skills might you need.

And then what might be desired what might be good to have, but not essential.

So what desired knowledge, skills experience, and interpersonal skills, okay? So pause the video now and have a go at that.

Okay, well done.

So I've got some ideas.

Yours will probably be longer than mine, and that's okay.

So I've got duties, representing constituents and attending the House of Commons.

I've got knowledge, so knowledge of the constituency area the desired might be some knowledge of how the UK political system works not essential, but might be useful.

Skills, computer literacy.

So it's good to be able to use a computer so maybe Microsoft or Word and PowerPoint et cetera.

And you know a lot of MP's today use social media so having some experience of how that works would be useful.

Experience, you're going to need to be able to work with people and work in a team.

So an MP is supported by people.

They don't work by themselves they work with all those who support them in managing that workload, managing their diary helping them respond to all their queries.

It might be desirable to have some experience in politics and working with a large group of people and again public speaking and organisation might be essential things personal.

Desired, a sense of humour.

You know it's a tough job being an MP.

It's probably quite useful to be able to see the funny side of things at times.

So hopefully you got some similar ideas.

Well done for doing that task.

Okay, so if you would like to further your knowledge of the today's lesson, you can decide to do one or both of these takeaway tasks, okay? So under the supervision of your parent or carer use a search engine to search who is my MP, okay? And with that, access a Members of Parliament website enter your post code and read the page and find out more about who your MP is, okay? You could find their name, their political party membership of any select committee, anything you want, okay? And you can make a little profile of them to add to your notes so you've got a real life example to use.

You could also play a game about what an MP does throughout their day.

So again, if you use a search engine with your parent or carer and search for the game MP for a Day you will get to play a game where you become an MP for the day and undertake their jobs and make decisions.

This is what the Members of Parliament website will look like when you have got your MP up.

So you'll see the contact information you've got a name et cetera.

Now that brings today's lesson to an end and hopefully you can now state what an MP is you can explain and give examples of the different roles an MP undertakes and you can also give us some skills and attributes and MP might need.

So now you've completed today's lesson don't forget to complete the quiz to test how much you can remember and hope we see you again for the next one Have a good day, bye.