Judges reveal best (and worst) politicians' websites

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Summary

At the inaugural MP Website Awards, hosted by the British Computer Society at the House of Commons, MPs were told who really cuts the mustard online

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Not all MPs' websites were of such high quality. Some of the poorer sites, which were not individually named, were heavily criticised by the judges. Their comments included:

  • "This could have been [produced] eight years ago"
  • "Stolid"
  • "Is he more interested in himself or his voters?"
  • "Self-promoting"
  • "No consistency. More like a shop front"

Research conducted by ZDNet.co.uk backs up the BCS's findings. Of the 550 MP sites listed on the parliament.uk website, many were far from interactive and most lacked the level of information many constituents might expect to find.

It is not uncommon to find sites consisting of only five or six pages, such as that which promotes Middlesbrough South MP Ashok Kumar, or the considerably out-of-date site, pictured, of Ulster Unionist Sylvia Hermon, whose top item on her news page focused on an event she had attended in 2003.

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