UK Parliament - Open Data - Model Context Protocol Server

🇬🇧 UK Parliament AI Assistant

Turn any MCP-capable AI into a live parliamentary research desk.
Ask about MPs, Lords, bills, votes, committees, Hansard, and more — answers come from official Parliament APIs, with sources cited every time.

Quick start · What you can ask · Setup · Example prompts · Successor project

Important

Active development has moved. This repository is the original .NET MCP lab.
The maintained project — with a full CLI, richer tooling, and ongoing fixes — is:
👉 ChrisBrooksbank/uk-parliament-data-mcp

If you want the best experience today (especially terminal workflows), start on the successor repository.

🎬 See it in action

MCP in an AI assistant

Note: Claude Code and MCP servers are not authorised for use on parliamentary PCs. This demo was recorded on a non-parliamentary PC.

Ask natural-language questions; the assistant calls Parliament APIs through MCP and returns cited answers.

MCP session — live tools, live data, source URLs included.

CLI on the successor project

Prefer the terminal? The CLI is only available on the new repo — not in this lab.

CLI demo from uk-parliament-data-mcp — install and run it there.

✨ Why this exists

Parliamentary data is public — but scattered across many APIs. This project wraps those endpoints as MCP tools so assistants like GitHub Copilot, Claude Desktop, and other MCP clients can:

Disclaimer: Unofficial, independent project. Not created, endorsed, or supported by UK Parliament. Data comes from public Parliament developer APIs.

🚀 Quick start

1. Prerequisites

• .NET SDK 9+
• Git
• An MCP host: VS Code (Copilot Chat) and/or Claude Desktop

2. Clone

git clone https://github.com/chrisbrooksbank-parliament/opendata-mcp-lab.git
cd opendata-mcp-lab

3. Point your MCP host at the server

VS Code — Command Palette → MCP: Add Server → Command (stdio):

dotnet run --project C:\code\opendata-mcp-lab\OpenData.Mcp.Server\OpenData.Mcp.Server.csproj

(Adjust the path to your clone.)

Claude Desktop — edit claude_desktop_config.json (UTF-8), then fully restart Claude:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "opendata-server": {
      "command": "dotnet",
      "args": [
        "run",
        "--project",
        "C:\\code\\opendata-mcp-lab\\OpenData.Mcp.Server\\OpenData.Mcp.Server.csproj"
      ]
    }
  }
}

4. Start a session the right way

For best results, always begin with the session prompt (or say "Hello Parliament").

You are a helpful assistant that answers questions using only data from UK Parliament MCP servers.

When the session begins, introduce yourself with a brief message such as:

"Hello! I’m a parliamentary data assistant. I can help answer questions using official data from the UK Parliament MCP APIs. Just ask me something, and I’ll fetch what I can — and I’ll always show you which sources I used."

When responding to user queries, you must:

Only retrieve and use data from the MCP API endpoints this server provides.

Avoid using any external sources or inferred knowledge.

After every response, append a list of all MCP API URLs used to generate the answer.

If no relevant data is available via the MCP API, state that clearly and do not attempt to fabricate a response.

Convert raw data into human-readable summaries while preserving accuracy, but always list the raw URLs used.

To disconnect while keeping chat context: "Goodbye Parliament". Or simply start a new chat.

Try:

What is happening now in the House of Commons?

🗺 What you can ask

🛠 Setup

VS Code + Copilot Chat

1. Ctrl+Shift+P → MCP: Add Server → Command: Stdio
2. Enter the dotnet run --project … command above
3. MCP: List Servers → start the server
4. Open Copilot Chat → Agent mode → enable this server’s tools
5. Paste the system prompt (or Hello Parliament), then ask a question
6. Approve tool/permission prompts when asked

Claude Desktop

1. Settings → Developer → Edit Config
2. Add the mcpServers block shown in Quick start
3. Save as UTF-8, quit Claude completely, relaunch
4. Confirm the server is running under Developer, then test with the system prompt

Optional: repo .mcp.json

This clone includes a sample .mcp.json pointing at a built server binary. Prefer dotnet run --project … unless you have already built OpenData.Mcp.Server.

💡 Prompting tips

Example citation style you should expect:

https://members-api.parliament.uk/api/Members/Search?Name=…

💬 Example prompts

Live activity

• What is happening now in both Houses?
• What's currently happening in the House of Commons / Lords?

Members

• Show me the interests of Sir Keir Starmer
• Who is Boris Johnson? / Who is member 1471?
• Biography, contacts, interests, contributions, voting record for a member ID
• Portrait / thumbnail for member 172

Bills

• Recent bills about fishing / environment
• Details, stages, amendments, publications, news for bill 425
• Bill types, stages catalogue, RSS feeds

Votes

• Search Commons divisions for “refugee” / “climate” / “brexit”
• Commons or Lords division by ID; results grouped by party

Committees

• Committees on women's issues / healthcare
• Meetings, members, written & oral evidence for a committee ID

Procedure, Hansard, calendar

• Search Erskine May for the Mace
• Oral question times; Hansard on a topic and date range
• Parties, departments, answering bodies
• Commons calendar; non-sitting days

Places, docs, transparency

• Constituencies containing “london”; election results for a constituency ID
• SIs about harbours; Acts mentioning roads; treaties involving Spain
• Interest categories and published registers

Power-user

• Show the full data from this pasted API result: {…}
• Show JSON / API URL from the last MCP call
• Bills sponsored by member 172 from the Environment department
• Committee meetings on climate change between two dates

🏗 What's in this repository

opendata-mcp-lab/
├── OpenData.Mcp.Server/     # .NET MCP server (stdio tools)
│   ├── Tools/               # Members, Bills, Votes, Hansard, …
│   └── Context/             # API shape notes for tools
├── context/                 # Shared API context for LLMs
├── mcp-demo.gif             # MCP assistant demo
├── cli-demo.gif             # CLI demo (successor project only)
└── README.md

Stack: .NET 9 · MCP stdio transport · official Parliament HTTP APIs

Not included here: the full CLI, PyPI packaging, and newer host integrations — those ship only in
uk-parliament-data-mcp.

📌 Active development moved

Issues and PRs against this lab may still be useful for .NET-specific notes, but feature momentum is on the new project.

🤝 Contributing & feedback

Ideas, corrections, and API coverage suggestions are welcome. For the actively maintained line (including CLI), please open issues or PRs on the successor repository.

_{Built for curiosity, scrutiny, and better parliamentary questions — powered by public open data.}