The Commons should consider a move to electronic voting, a group of more than 60 backbenchers have said, with the current system of filing physically through voting lobbies taking up to a fifth of their working day.
Of the 62 signatories to the joint letter to Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, 39 are Labour MPs who were elected this year, a sign of the impatience among some sections of the new intake at what they view as parliament’s arcane working practices.
The letter was also signed by more established Labour backbenchers, including Stella Creasy, John Trickett and Sharon Hodgson, as well as the SDLP’s Claire Hanna and two former Labour MPs who now sit as independents, Rosie Duffield and Zarah Sultana.
The letter, sent to Powell in her role as chair of the Commons’ cross-party modernisation committee, said that under the system in place even a single vote uses 162 combined hours if every MP takes part.
“Spending 15 minutes corralling every MP through two corridors to say aye or no can regularly account for 20% of our working day,” the letter said. “With complicated or contested legislation that has multiple votes hours disappear.
“All other work pauses when the division bell is called – delaying select committees, Westminster Hall debates, meetings and necessitating MPs to second guess when they need to be on the estate to the detriment of their ability to progress work elsewhere, including in their constituency.”
Another knock-on effect, the letter argues, is on the number of votes, as there is pressure to limit how many take place to save time.
“Requiring MPs to attend in person to troop around lobbies adds little to our debates – with parliamentary TV enabling all MPs to listen to a debate virtually, time walking repeatedly in a circle and travelling to be in the lobbies could be better used to serve our constituents,” the letter said.
It calls on the modernisation committee, set up in September with a remit to examine parliament’s working practices, as well as its culture and standards, to look into the idea of electronic voting – including the idea of allowing MPs to vote from other locations.
“The benefits would also reach well beyond the chamber,” the letter argued, noting that many legislatures already use such systems. “Remote electronic voting could also help MPs balance their work commitments with caring responsibilities and provide greater flexibility for colleagues with disabilities or health conditions.”
The change should form part of wider reforms, including for parliament to “better align its hours with the normal working day”, the letter said, adding: “The moment has come to prioritise time management over tradition.”
Discussing voting systems in the Commons, Creasy said: “MPs spend hours of the day literally going round in circles because unlike other parliaments we don’t use electronic voting methods to speed up the counting process.
“This is a call for the modernisation committee to look at how we can be more efficient with our time so we can have more time to work with colleagues and ministers on legislation in the first place.”
The modernisation committee has just completed a call for evidence on ways to improve parliament.
While many more MPs are likely to share the views in the letter, some advocate physical votes as a way to see ministers and lobby them in person – while whips tend to view the current system as less likely to tempt MPs to rebel.
