Social media has overtaken newsbrands as the primary source of news for MPs, according to a new survey conducted by Yougov.
Some 83% of a representative sample of 105 MPs cited social media as their primary source, up from 61% at the start of 2025.
This means social media overtook news websites (on 77%) for the first time.
But 96% of MPs still said they visit newspaper websites at least once a week, with 89% visiting daily and 60% visiting multiple times a day.
Among national newspaper websites, The Guardian (read by 67% of MPs) has risen by seven percentage points in a year to overtake The Times (on 63%).
This increase for The Guardian came across all parties although it remains read much more widely among Labour and Lib Dem MPs (both 80%) versus 23% of Conservatives.
The strongest growth was at The Telegraph, up from 19% to 30% readership in a year, followed by the Financial Times (rising from 35% to 45%).
There was also growth at the Mirror (up from 19% to 27%) and the Daily Mail (up from 20% to 24%) suggesting MPs are reading across the political spectrum.
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Among specialist political brands, Politico dominates with 59% readership among MPs (up six percentage points from last year). Politico skews left in its readership, reaching 68% of Labour MPs and 33% of Conservatives.
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Politico’s daily London Playbook newsletter was read by 48% of MPs surveyed (up from 43%).
Overall 70% of MPs subscribe to at least one political newsletter – up from 61% last year.
But the report noted: “However, the FT has slipped from 14% to 10%, and the New Statesman Morning Call has fallen from 16% to 10% – suggesting that while the overall newsletter market is growing, some individual titles are losing ground as competition increases.”
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The survey was carried out on behalf of corporate affairs consultancy 5654 & Company and political influence media buying agency MessageSpace.
It also asked about podcasts, which it described as a polarising format by generation compared to other information sources.
Some 62% of MPs listen to podcasts at least weekly (with 14% listening more than once a day and a further 18% listening daily) but the remaining 38% “rarely or never engage with the format – the highest non-engagement rate of any channel measured”.
But they were nonetheless classed as a mainstream news channel rather than a niche one with 46% of MPs citing podcasts as a source of news.
The Rest Is Politics is the most popular news podcast among MPs at 31% listenership (43% of Labour MPs) followed by The News Agents (29%, also Labour leaning on 39%), Sky News political editor Beth Rigby’s Electoral Dysfunction (15%), Politics At Sam and Anne’s from Sky News and Politico (15%) and The New Statesman Podcast (14%, having grown from 9% in a year).
The general election in 2024 was described as “the first podcast election” due to an explosion in wider listenership to political shows.
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Among the social media platforms, Whatsapp and Facebook were both used by more than 80% of MPs weekly (82% and 81% respectively) followed by Instagram (57%) meaning the top three are all owned by Meta.
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