This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/27/speaker-committee-electronic-voting-john-bercow

The article has changed 4 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 1 Version 2
Speaker's committee to look into electronic voting Speaker's committee to look into electronic voting
(about 7 hours later)
The Commons Speaker, John Bercow, is establishing a rare independent commission on digital democracy, including the prospect of introducing electronic voting at elections. John Bercow, the Speaker of the Commons, is establishing an independent commission on digital democracy, including the prospect of introducing electronic voting at elections.
Describing his blueprint for Parliament 2.0, Bercow says in a speech to the Hansard Society on Wednesday that parliament needs to "reconcile traditional concepts and institutions of representative democracy with the technological revolution witnessed over the past decade or two, which has created both a demand for and an opportunity to establish a digital democracy". Describing his blueprint for Parliament 2.0, Bercow said in a speech to the Hansard Society that parliament needed to "reconcile traditional concepts and institutions of representative democracy with the technological revolution witnessed over the past decade or two, which has created both a demand for and an opportunity to establish a digital democracy".
Bercow has deployed Speaker's committees to look at issues such as the representation of minorities in parliament, but it is the first time he has looked at how democracy can be reformed beyond parliament.Bercow has deployed Speaker's committees to look at issues such as the representation of minorities in parliament, but it is the first time he has looked at how democracy can be reformed beyond parliament.
Bercow says Estonia, "where a quarter of the votes cast at its last national election in 2011 were delivered online, is well worth investigation".Bercow says Estonia, "where a quarter of the votes cast at its last national election in 2011 were delivered online, is well worth investigation".
Core membership of the commission will include parliamentarians, industry experts and academics, supplemented by a circle of specialist witnesses and public engagement. The report is due to be completed by 2015, when the UK will mark the 750th anniversary of parliament and the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.Core membership of the commission will include parliamentarians, industry experts and academics, supplemented by a circle of specialist witnesses and public engagement. The report is due to be completed by 2015, when the UK will mark the 750th anniversary of parliament and the 800th anniversary of the Magna Carta.
He says the commission will need to ask "searching questions about the digital divide, the haves and have-nots of the internet and the smartphone, not least because of the accumulating evidence that the Berlin Wall which undoubtedly exists in this terrain is no longer about age but relates to affluence and the lack of it. Bercow says the commission will need to ask "searching questions about the digital divide, the haves and have-nots of the internet and the smartphone, not least because of the accumulating evidence that the Berlin Wall which undoubtedly exists in this terrain is no longer about age but relates to affluence and the lack of it". "A digital democracy should not reinvent the divide in franchise of the 19th century in a new high-technology form. It has to be universally inclusive and not a geeks' nirvana."
"A digital democracy should not reinvent the divide in franchise of the 19th century in a new high-technology form. It has to be universally inclusive and not a geeks' nirvana." He says the commission's topics will include e-petitions, public reading for bills, the use of online media by MPs and the engagement of citizens in parliamentary activity. Bercow also claimed MPs in the past fiddled their expenses as a "displacement activity" because Parliament had become irrelevant and ineffective. He said after becoming Speaker in June 2009 he feared for the future of parliament, describing it as a "virtual corpse".
He says the commission's topics will include e-petitions, public reading for bills, the use of online media by MPs and the engagement of citizens in parliamentary activity. "The blunt truth is that the expenses debacle was a particularly embarrassing layer of icing on an especially unappetising cake ... the reality in 2009 is that the House of Commons as a meaningful political institution, an effective legislature, had been in decline for some decades and was close to reaching the point where it had become, to distort Walter Bagehot slightly, a dignified part of our constitution without much actual dignity.
"The House appeared to be little more than a cross between a rubber stamp and a talking shop which had taken to collective activity such as the imaginative interpretation of what might be a legitimate expense claim as much as an odd form of displacement activity as out of any shared sense of malice or corruption."
But an influx of new MPs in 2010, the novelty of coalition, and procedural changes such as forcing ministers to answer more urgent questions had sparked a revival.
"Far from being in the final twitches of our mortal life, the virtual corpse has staged an unexpected recovery," he said.
"It turns out that in the spirit of Dr Who, the parliament elected in 2010 has not been about death but about regeneration."
Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning.