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Parliamentary Voting System and Constituencies Bill

Or on something, I think is the proper description. My noble friend Lady Taylor rightly talked about the role of the House of Commons and how individual constituents identify with their Member of Parliament. They will have enormous difficulty with these bigger constituencies. My noble friend Lord Rooker will remember that in the 1980s, either Central Television or ATV—I think it was Central Television at the time—conducted an opinion poll in the Birmingham and West Bromwich areas about MPs’ identities. A regular opinion poll was done in my constituency, which was highly marginal, and in a marginal constituency in the East Midlands. I was fortunate. My noble friend Lord Rooker and I scored the highest recognition, with about 70 per cent, in our respective constituencies. Seven out of 10 people approached knew the name of their Member of Parliament. In his case, it was because he was an extremely diligent and hard-working local MP. In my case, it was just that I was appearing on television fairly regularly in a programme called ““Central Weekend””.