Proxy Voting

Thangam Debbonaire Excerpts

Wednesday 28th June 2023 Commons Chamber

[Thangam Debbonaire (Bristol West) (Lab)]

I thank the Leader of the House for bringing forward this important motion. I join her in thanking the Chair of the Procedure Committee, her colleagues and the Committee staff for all of their hard work on proxy voting over many months. They have handled the issue sensitively and thoroughly.

I support the motion before us in the name of the Leader of the House. I have spoken before about the importance of Members being able to fulfil their core duty to vote on behalf of the people they represent even if they have a serious long-term condition or injury that prevents them from coming to the estate. It is right that colleagues who are suffering are able to recover properly in their own home. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for East Dunbartonshire (Amy Callaghan), who is not in her place today, who has done so much to champion this cause.

It is right that we make this change for colleagues who might otherwise have dragged themselves into Parliament —as we have all known someone do—when it was probably unwise, or who have stayed at home because they had to and felt terrible about it. The process that we are debating aims to fix that. The Committee’s report notes that the pilot scheme, which extended the eligibility for proxy voting, has enabled several Members to vote who would otherwise have been unable to do so. I am glad that they were able to continue representing their constituents in that way. It is welcome progress, and I support the extension of the scheme.

The Committee has carefully considered the principle of absence from the estate in eligibility for a proxy vote. That has been an essential element of the rationale for proxy voting in general since its introduction in 2019. There has been some deliberation on removing that principle from the Standing Orders. The intention is that Members who are well enough to come in and participate in some of the day’s parliamentary proceedings can do so, and will not then be ineligible for a proxy vote if they cannot stay until a late vote or are not physically well enough to participate in a busy voting Lobby.

The Committee has issued welcome clarification stating that it should not become commonplace, and I agree. It has provided a helpful example of an MP who may be well enough to come in for an urgent question of particular relevance to their constituency, but then needs to go home. It seems that the Committee has worked through the issue and struck the right balance.

I wish to put it on the record that, for some, proxy voting is not suitable, and there are other ways of managing absence. I was reassured to see that there are no proposed changes to the mechanisms that exist as political arrangements between the Whips’ Offices. That also covers concerns about privacy that some have raised. That is important. Where they wish to do so, Members should—and under the proposed arrangement, still can—choose a more discreet pairing option or be nodded through. I can attest to the value of that option, as I used it in my first year here when I had a serious illness, and I am glad that it remains.

Parliament ought to be a model workplace, at the forefront of rights at work and accessibility, but it is also, crucially and exclusively, the centre of our democracy and a representation of that principle. I believe that the motion strikes the right balance between those principles and the unique requirements of an MP. It is proportionate and welcome, and I am glad to support it today.