Member News
By Ned Simons - 20th January 2011
A Commons committee is to look into the use of electronic devices in the chamber and an email will be circulated among MPs to canvass their views.
Yesterday confusion broke out online over whether deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle had tried to ban MPs from using Twitter in the Commons chamber.
While Labour MP and procedure committee member Bridget Phillipson said the committee had been planning to conduct the inquiry before yesterday's events, the incident highlighted the need for greater clarity on what is, and is not, allowed.
Current rules prevent mobile phones from being used in the chamber, but MPs are allowed to use "hand-held devices" to check emails and other activities as long as they cause no disturbance.
They are also banned from taking films or audio recordings in the chamber. A rule that got newly elected Leicester East MP Liz Kendall in trouble after she tweeted a photo of the state opening of Parliament in May.
But while many more traditional voices may not be too keen on MPs fiddling with their blackberries while sat on the green benches, the more web savvy appear keen to expand on the role of the internet and electronic aides in the chamber.
Labour MP Stella Creasy, whose online spat with Julian Huppert played its part in yesterday's furore, said dodgy reception was a greater threat to Twitter than the deputy Speaker.
"Its the lack of signal that makes tweeting in the chamber difficult, not the Commons authorities," she tweeted.
Creasy also raised the constitutional issue of whether words published online by an MP sat in the Commons chamber were covered by parliamentary privilege in the same way speeches were, after questioning the truthfulness of one of Huppert's posts.
"If someone tweets an untruth as you just have from the chamber is that privileged," she asked him online.
And in response to Phillipson's confirmation that an inquiry would be held Gavin Shuker and former Labour 'Twitter Tsar' Kerry McCarthy called for improved signal and for a auto-connecting wireless network to be installed in the chamber.
If anything the inquiry should serve to highlight the changing nature of the role of parliamentarians, given the increasing penetration of the internet and mobile communication.
Former Labour chief whip Baroness Armstrong admitted on Monday night one of the reasons she decided to leave the Commons was the impact of new media on the role of an MP.
"One of the reasons why I decided it was time for me to go is that it was becoming clear that you had to start using things like Facebook and Twitter," she told peers during the marathon debate on the coalition's plans to cut the number of MPs.
She added: "I know that some of my noble friends are happy doing that but I was not".
American politicians have long been banned from taking any electronic devices into the chambers of the House of Representatives and Senate, but Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) appeared to break that taboo recently when he took an Apple iPad to the Speaker's podium.
And the gadget has taken the Bundestag by storm where German politicians including chancellor Angela Merkel have been spotted tapping away.
Have your say...
Please enter your comments below.