MPs urged to vote in person in Commons – not by proxy

MPS ARE being told to “set an example” and return to the House of Commons as figures show that nearly 600 have all but given up voting in person.

Analysis last week found that 595 out of 650 MPs were no longer voting personally and had asked a proxy – normally a party whip – to do it for them.

Proxy voting is meant to allow MPs to vote on behalf of an absent member. Senior Conservatives believe some MPs are abusing the system by returning to the Commons but allowing proxies to vote for them so they can go home early.

One said: “MPs need to be back in Parliament holding the Government to account. Not shouting from the sidelines. It is time to switch the Zoom off and get back to work.”

The number of proxies soared after the Government dropped a requirement that proxy voting only apply because MPs “themselves are at high risk from coronavirus for reasons that they are ‘clinically vulnerable’”. It replaced it with a statement that MPs will be able to cast proxy votes if they cannot attend “for medical or public health reasons related to the pandemic”.

It means Boris Johnson and other ministers – even though they might be in Whitehall – no longer have to come to the Commons to vote in person.

Last Tuesday’s Hansard shows that one Government whip – Stuart Andrew MP – controlled the votes of nearly the entire Conservative Parliamentary party – 330 out of 364 Tory MPs.

Sir Charles Walker, vice chairman of the 1922 committee and chairman of the Commons administration committee said: “During the height of the pandemic and the lockdowns proxy voting was desirable – we wanted to minimise the number of people on the estate.

“But as the nation starts returning to work, it is important that MPs are in step with their constituents. I am concerned about colleagues physically present in the House choosing to remain on proxy as it means that they do not need to stay perhaps later into the evening to vote, they can get home early.”