Public Whip to close

The free to use Public Whip website which allows people to track how their MP has voted is to shut down due to lack of funds.

In an open letter published today the service said it would keep running until 27th July and then shut down, unless a way could be found to salvage it.

Co-founder Francis Irving said it was sad that no one had offered to take on the running costs given how easy it would be to maintain.

"Foolishly we thought that a well funded organisation like Parliament or the BBC or maybe even an NGO might have taken it on by now," he said.

Irving also takes a swipe at the BBC's Democracy Live for failing to include information about how MPs vote.

"The BBC's massively well funded Democracy Live, has nothing about voting at all," he said.

"As if MPs just turned up in Parliament like some weird version of Question Time that the editor hasn't cut enough, rather than having an actual means of asserting power while they are there."

He adds: "If you want to know how your MP voted, you can still find out. Phone them up. Click through zillions of pages on the Parliament website. Watch the video on Democracy Live, maybe you'll get to see them creeping into the wrong lobby."

A discussion forum where you can submit suggestions about how to rescue the service has been posted here.

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