Views of Westminster
Ipsos's poll for BBC News shows decreasing trust in government as it gets less local. Just one in five Britons (21%) agree the UK Government acts in their best interests, while 49% disagree. This is better than for the European Parliament (12% agree, 54% disagree) but worse than local government (26% agree, 38% disagree) - though more disagree than agree for each.
Three in ten (29%) say that Westminster MPs have too much say in their area; 23% disagree. These proportions are reversed with regard to local politicians (25% think they have too much influence on their area, 31% disagree).
Almost two in three (64%) feel that the government does not spend enough time listening to the view of individual members of the public, down from 74% in 2007. One in eight (13%) now disagree, compared with seven percent seven years ago.
One in four (24%) are satisfied with the way that Parliament works; 44% are dissatisfied. This is down from 27% satisfied and 35% dissatisfied in 2010, but up from the nadir of 20% satisfied and 63% dissatisfied following the MPs' expenses scandal. Prior to the scandal, more had always been satisfied than were dissatisfied; the highest satisfaction we have recorded was 45% in 2001, when 30% were dissatisfied.
Technical note
All fieldwork was undertaken from 26 September – 3 October 2014. In total, 1,967 interviews were completed face-to-face with adults aged 15+ across Great Britain. Data are weighted to match the profile of the population.
