Member Article

Theresa May is the ‘most stressed’ party leader, according to Brits

Theresa May has had the most stressful year of all three of the main party leaders, according to a new research report from Perkbox, UK’s fastest growing employee benefits platform.

She topped the poll of 2,000 UK consumers conducted by Censuswide, after a disastrous snap election and a series of political troubles in the last 12 months. Over half of respondents (53 per cent) cited Theresa May as having the most stressful year, compared with just 14 per cent for Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. Vince Cable apparently had an easy ride as Liberal Democrat leader with only 3 per cent saying he’d had the most stressful year.

However, when asked which leader had been treated the worst by their party colleagues, Corbyn was identified by nearly a third of voters (32 per cent) compared with 26 per cent for May.

The poll also asked voters to assess the work ethic of their local MP. On a regional breakdown, Londoners said their MPs had the strongest work ethic.

Another key finding of the research was that the public are happy for MPs to make use of technology to conduct their duties. Over a third of the public (41 per cent) said MPs should be allowed to conduct Parliamentary votes online or via specialised apps.

Over half (52 per cent) said MPs should be free to use Skype some or all of the time to conduct surgery meetings with constituents.

Saurav Chopra , Cofounder and CEO of Perkbox says: “The job of a party leader has long been seen as a high pressure role, but it appears to have been a particularly rough ride for Theresa May and Jeremy Corbyn this year, with the latter being treated the worst by his party colleagues according to our poll.

“It also appears that voters are becoming less precious about MPs travelling to and from the House of Commons to vote, with many now saying voting remotely is a more efficient and cost effective way to fulfil their duties. Perhaps this is a sign that it’s time for Parliament to start using tech more effectively to make these jobs easier to carry out.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Alexandra .