A frequently mentioned complaint about the current voting procedure is its time consuming nature. The average vote takes 15 minutes. For some members, they will need all of the eight minutes to get from their office to the lobbies. This will then draw them away from their office, for far more than the 15 minutes it takes for their vote to be recorded. Margot James had an even worse experience as her office was too far away to easily reach the voting lobbies in time, so she would frequently work in the library to ensure she could make a vote on time. This is an obvious inconvenience, to Members but also to their staff who may only see their Member at the beginning of the day and then not again as they will not be using their office as a base.
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This time, could easily be spent on more productive aspects of an MPs role, such as debating the legislation further. An obvious solution to this would be to have it that all votes take place in “decision time”, similar to that of devolved institutions. An alternative solution to this would be to have other areas of the Parliamentary estate where votes can take place as to reduce the time needed for Members to get to the division.
Although, there are obvious issues with “decision time” most notably the enshrined idea that a division should follow the debate. Assuming the clerks would still be used for each division, MPs would still be in a position where they are circling around the chamber endlessly to vote on all divisible items from the day. Electronic voting in the lobbies would enable decision time at the end of the day, to only require one “8-minute dash” which would streamline this …show more content…
Another enshrined principle of voting could be lost. Members may not be voting at the same “station” as the ministerial colleague they would like to speak to, and so the benefit of voting for countless backbench MPs would be lost. Additionally, this system would not easily allow for other lobbies to be created around the Palace, and so the current method of having clerks and tellers would need to be revised. There would also be a delay in returning the result to the chamber. The result needs to be given to the Speaker to announce to the House if multiple votes are taking place in multiple places these results will need to be collated before the result can be presented, potentially slowing the process down.
It is unlikely Members will be able to change the voting procedure to get away with the time constraint of getting to the lobby, without introducing a form of remote voting, such as voting from their office. This could potentially lead to Members being allowed to vote off the Parliamentary estate. None of my interviewees would want to see the introduction of a system that would allow Members to vote when they are off the Parliamentary estate. A second issue with allowing Members to vote in their office, is it opens the system up for abuse, the Member could instruct their staff to vote on their
This time, could easily be spent on more productive aspects of an MPs role, such as debating the legislation further. An obvious solution to this would be to have it that all votes take place in “decision time”, similar to that of devolved institutions. An alternative solution to this would be to have other areas of the Parliamentary estate where votes can take place as to reduce the time needed for Members to get to the division.
Although, there are obvious issues with “decision time” most notably the enshrined idea that a division should follow the debate. Assuming the clerks would still be used for each division, MPs would still be in a position where they are circling around the chamber endlessly to vote on all divisible items from the day. Electronic voting in the lobbies would enable decision time at the end of the day, to only require one “8-minute dash” which would streamline this …show more content…
Another enshrined principle of voting could be lost. Members may not be voting at the same “station” as the ministerial colleague they would like to speak to, and so the benefit of voting for countless backbench MPs would be lost. Additionally, this system would not easily allow for other lobbies to be created around the Palace, and so the current method of having clerks and tellers would need to be revised. There would also be a delay in returning the result to the chamber. The result needs to be given to the Speaker to announce to the House if multiple votes are taking place in multiple places these results will need to be collated before the result can be presented, potentially slowing the process down.
It is unlikely Members will be able to change the voting procedure to get away with the time constraint of getting to the lobby, without introducing a form of remote voting, such as voting from their office. This could potentially lead to Members being allowed to vote off the Parliamentary estate. None of my interviewees would want to see the introduction of a system that would allow Members to vote when they are off the Parliamentary estate. A second issue with allowing Members to vote in their office, is it opens the system up for abuse, the Member could instruct their staff to vote on their