Electronic voting ‘could undermine Parliament’
Expanding electronic voting could undermine Parliament as ministers could choose not to turn up in person, the Leader of the Commons has said.
Jacob Rees-mogg said the "default" position should be that MPS cast their vote in person, following experiments with remote voting during the corona virus pandemic.
He also said that offering proxy voting powers – which allows an MP to have their vote cast by a colleague – to those on maternity and paternity leave was "really straightforward" but argued there were complications in extending it to those who are too ill to attend Parliament.
The Cabinet minister said that while he had sympathy for those dealing with longterm illnesses, there were questions about how proxy voting for them could work, including asking what would happen if "the member was under anaesthetic and therefore not able to give an instruction" on how to vote on their behalf.
He also said there was a confidentiality issue involved, especially if anmp did not want to make their illness public.
Mr Rees-mogg, giving evidence to the procedure committee, said: "Turning up in parliament is not what every minister wants to do at the end of a busy day, but it is fundamental to the power of parliament that ministers are here regularly – all ministers and all senior figures in our parties.”
The Commons Leader added: "I think the default should be that people should be here to vote in person.
"But I have sympathy with people who have serious illness, who I think are in a category that deserves more sympathy than people who just find it slightly in convenient to be here ."