Three sites that help you the citizen make sense of what your elected representatives are doing and hold them to account (in their own words):
- TheyWorkForYou.comEverything MPs say in the House of Commons is recorded in a document called Hansard. TheyWorkForYou.com helps make sense of this vital democratic resource while allowing you to add comments and links to the official transcripts of Parliament.
- The Public WhipEvery week, a dozen or so times, your MP votes in the UK parliament. This is their crucial, visible exercise of power. The Public Whip data-mines their voting record to help you hold them to account. For more information about the project
- FaxYourMP.comMost people don’t know the name of their MP, let alone their constituency. We think it’s important that constituents know the identity of their Parliamentary representative, and be able to contact him or her when they feel the need. Hence this website.
In a related development mySociety.org, in partnership with West Sussex County Council, won £250,000 earlier this year from the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s local government e-innovations fund. It emerged from the same stable of volunteers who conceived FaxYourMP, PublicWhip and TheyWorkForYou, and promises a series of cheap, high-impact websites, developed using a mix of paid staff and volunteers.
