An inquiry by the cross-party procedure committee of MPs has been launched into whether House authorities should introduce electronic voting for commons divisions.
At present, when a division is called in the House of Commons, MPs who wish to cast a vote must do so in-person by proceeding to the division lobbies located adjacent to the chamber.
The system has been criticised by parliamentarians elected at the 2024 general election, who say the act of walking in and out of division lobbies — often for many votes in a row — is a waste of both House and MPs’ time.
In a commons debate on the modernisation of House procedure last year, Green party MP Ellie Chowns said she thought it was “extraordinary” that the commons does not have electronic voting.
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She told the House: “It’s extraordinary to me that we do not have electronic voting…. While I’ve been here, I’ve participated in five votes and that’s taken at least an hour and a quarter.
“If you add up each of those votes, it adds up to basically a month’s worth of MP time.”
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In December, a letter signed by a cross-party group of over 60 backbench MPs urged House authorities to consider introducing electronic voting. 39 Labour MPs signed the joint letter to Lucy Powell, the leader of the Commons, including established backbenchers such as Stella Creasy, John Trickett and Sharon Hodgson.
The letter read: “Spending 15 minutes corralling every MP through two corridors to say aye or no can regularly account for 20% of our working day… 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.”
During the Covid-19 pandemic, due to social distancing requirements, MPs were able to vote electronically in some divisions in the House. This was known as “remote voting”. But these arrangements lapsed in mid-2021 alongside other pandemic-era procedures.
Several other legislatures around the world — including the UK parliament’s upper chamber, the House of Lords — currently operate some form of electronic voting arrangements.
The House of Lords put in place online voting between 15 June 2020 and September 2021. Peers continue to vote online but may only do so when present on the parliamentary estate.
The procedure committee inquiry will look at the pros and cons of the current operation of divisions in the House of Commons and the potential merits and pitfalls of introducing electronic voting arrangement for divisions.
Commenting on the newly launched inquiry, committee chair Cat Smith said: “Electronic voting is already in use in other legislatures in various forms — including in the House of Lords — and the new parliament gives us the chance to investigate whether it’s time for the House of Commons to adapt its procedures.
“There are several factors to consider before any major changes, such as the historical context for in-person divisions, the impact of the recent introduction of pass readers in the voting lobbies, and the robustness of our technological systems.
“We look forward to hearing a broad range of views from colleagues and other interested parties.”
Josh Self is Editor of Politics.co.uk, follow him on Bluesky here.
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