Increasingly local: the regional roots of British Members of Parliament, 2010–2019

Abstract

Drawing on data from four general elections between 2010 and 2019 this note shows that British MPs are increasingly likely to represent constituencies in the region of their birth. By 2019, more than half of British MPs were born in the region in which their constituency sat. We find clear partisan differences, but no overall gender divide. There is also a clear centre-periphery divide. The less local nature of the current older cohort in the Commons–the most likely to retire in the next few years–means that these trends should continue in the same direction in coming elections.