Oral Answers to Questions

Martyn Day Excerpts
Thursday 25th July 2019

(4 years, 8 months ago)

Commons Chamber
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The right hon. Member for Carshalton and Wallington, representing the House of Commons Commission, was asked—
Martyn Day Portrait Martyn Day (Linlithgow and East Falkirk) (SNP)
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11. Whether the Commission has discussed the potential merits of including trials of electronic voting systems in the restoration and renewal programme.

Tom Brake Portrait Tom Brake (Carshalton and Wallington)
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I commend the hon. Gentleman on being, I think, the sixth member of his party who in this Session has raised the issue of electronic voting; however, I am afraid that I cannot give him a different answer to the previous five responses. [Interruption.] I am afraid my response is that this is not a matter for the Commission; it would only be responsible for ensuring that, for instance, the funding that was necessary to ensure that that happened was in place.

Martyn Day Portrait Martyn Day
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I thank the right hon. Gentleman for his answer. I am sure when the Victorians built this place, the voting system we still have was state of the art, but now, for the modern age, we need to move to a current state-of-the-art system—electronic voting—and I hope he agrees that that would allow us more time to debate the substance of Bills.

Tom Brake Portrait Tom Brake
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Absolutely; I agree that it is time for change, although I suspect that the new Leader of the House may not be giving his entire support to such proposals as we revert to the Victorian era. I draw to the hon. Gentleman’s attention the fact that the Procedure Committee is looking at electronic voting, and he has until 27 September to submit a request to it.