1. Pressures on MPs

2. Things affecting how an MP votes
Party Pressures
Constituency
National Interest
The Media
Personal Beliefs/Integrity
The public via social media
Case Study
Brexit

3. The primary concern of an MP should be their constituency
The primary concern of an MP should be their constituency. However they have a responsibility to represent every member of their community – including those who didn’t vote for them.

4. An MP also has to be loyal to their party, as their party have paid for their election expenses -but even within the party there are conflicting pressures
Different groups within the party – left and right wing
Possible promotion opportunities in the future.
The state of the election campaign
Local Party Association -the people back home who actually campaign out in the constituency during elections.

5. MPs have to think about the national interest -and in some cases this can conflict with the interests of the constituency or the interests of the party. For example if an MP represents an area which has a lot of voters who work in fossil fuels, then they might feel pressure not to support renewable energy policy.
Many MPs (maybe not all) also have their own personal beliefs and morality that they feel they cannot vote against. Politicians are by their nature keen to express their opinions on any issue – their opinions on particular issues like Brexit for example, may have been expressed and reported on in the past, and this can mean that an MP may find it difficult to change the way they vote.

6. The media can put pressure on an MP to vote in a particular way
The media can put pressure on an MP to vote in a particular way. They can begin and inflame moral panics on particular issues, which can make it difficult for an MP to express a different opinion.
In recent years the increasing use of the Internet has created an added level of public pressure on an MP – sometimes even trolling and bullying of MPs, particularly female MPs