A quarter of men in Britain say they would be an MP, but women are far less enthusiastic about the prospect
Prospective parliamentarians are campaigning hard in the final two weeks of the election to try and secure a seat in the House of Commons. But how desirable is the job among the general public?
New YouGov data shows that a quarter of men (27%) would want to be an MP if given the chance, more than double the proportion of women who say the same (11%). Clearly more needs to be done to make the role attractive to women if gender equality is to be achieved in the House.
There is also a noticeable gap between the oldest and youngest Britons: 84% of those aged 65 and over wouldn’t take the job, compared to 64% of 18 to 24 year olds.
The very top job is even less popular: four in five (82%) would not want to be Prime Minister, which is a four point increase from when we last asked this question in July.
Just as with the MP job, women and older people are more likely to reject the idea of being PM. Nine in ten women (89%) say they would not want to run the country, compared to three in four men (75%). And 88% of those aged 65 and over would avoid it, versus 71% of 18 to 24 year olds.
Men are again far more likely to say that they want to be PM. Three times more men (19%) would take the job on than women (6%).
Photo: Getty
