MP calls for electronic voting to save members’ legs

ELECTRONIC voting should be introduced in Parliament to stop MPS spending countless hours traipsing through division lobbies to vote on Brexit legislation in the months ahead, an SNP frontbencher has said.

MPS reportedly spent seven days taking part in more than 500 votes between 2012 and 2014 and there are fears that the laws needed to prepare the UK for its withdrawal from the EU could effectively grind the House of Commons to a halt in the run up to the point of Brexit in March 2019.

But Tory backbenchers have defended the tradition of having to physically walk through a voting lobby because it allows them to “collar” ministers who have “no escape”.

The SNP has repeatedly called for electronic voting to be introduced in Westminster on the grounds it would be more efficient than the current arrangements which mean each vote takes about 15 minutes.

Hannah Bardell, of the SNP, told Tom Brake, a Lib Dem MP who represents the House of Commons Commission, which is responsible for overseeing the running of Parliament, that electronic voting was already used in Scottish parliament and was “very effective”.

She asked: “Are you aware that between sittings in 2012 and 2014 there were over 500 votes that took over seven days to have them? Given what is coming down the line with Brexit, do you not think that this is a perfect time to install electronic voting?”

Mr Brake said he agreed that electronic voting would be “more effective” but that previous attempts at reform had been blocked by MPS.

But Tory traditionalists sprang to the defence of the current voting system which sees MPS walking through either the “aye” or “no” corridors to cast their vote.

Michael Fabricant, the MP for Lichfield, said: “If you listen to the SNP altogether why don’t we go the full hog? Why don’t we just sit at home, watch it on TV and vote on our iphones?”