I recently came across a 2004 article which makes the following claim:
Is it true that normally 10% or less of MPs are present in the House of Commons (when it is sitting, that is)? Are there any statistics on attendance?
For the record, I’ve visited Parliament only once, and about 90% of the seats were indeed empty. More, actually—there were probably only about 15 MPs present. However, I have no way of knowing if my observation that day was typical.
I should probably clarify that the article (and my visit) refers to the British parliament. However, I wouldn’t mind learning about attendance in other Houses of Commons (Canada, Australia, etc.).
Debating in the Commons chamber is only one part of an MP’s job. They sit on various committees, read and answer letters from constituents, regularly visit their constituencies, those in the government have to spend long periods working in the various ministries, etc. An MP who spent all the time in the Commons chamber would not be serving his/her constituents at all well. And bear in mind that only a minority of legislation is at all contentious - most of the legislation passed by Parliament is on bread-and-butter issues, has broad support and doesn’t need to be debated much. The chamber fills up quickly enough when there’s major disagreement over an issue.
When I lived in Canberra I sometimes popped into debates in the House of Representatives or the Senate. Attendance varied, depending on the importance of the bills being debated. Significant, contentious legislation usually had a full house.
I’ve spent some time at the Minnesota Legislature, and for much of the time, the actual chamber is often quite empty. Most legislators are in their offices, answering constituent mail & phone calls, meeting with people, or even just studying bills. There are also committee meetings (though those are generally not scheduled in conflict, at least, until the crush toward the ending deadline).
They have a paging system to summon legislators when a vote is being taken, and you will see them scurrying toward the chamber when an important vote is called. And each party always has a few legislators on the floor, with ways to summon the rest of the party members if they are suddenly needed.
So it’s fairly common to see only a few of the seats filled at times, with just a few legislators there debating. But much of their work is done elsewhere, like in committee meetings. Often the actual vote is a forgone conclusion, since negotiations in committee and elsewhere mean that most legislators have already decided how they will vote before any ‘debate’ on the chamber floor.
But I really don’t see how that makes it a “mockery of democracy”. We’re still talking about a government by democratically elected representatives, after all.
Even when there’s a vote, except on a hot topic where there’s a possibility of rebellious votes against the government, few MPs need to attend. There’s gentlemens’ agreements between the parties along the lines of “if X stays away, will you get Y to stay away as well, to even it out?” This allows more MPs to get on with other jobs both inside and outside Westminster.
If you get a chance to see the opening session of the U.S. House of Representatives on January 3, you will get the rare chance to see all 435 members (usually along with their families) at the same time. But when you go any other time, there are usually only a handful of representatives around.
They all come out for a vote, but then they cast their electronic vote and then stand around chatting for quite a while.
The same “pairing” system operates here too to ensure that not all MPs have to be present and their absence won’t affect the government’s majority.
Exceprt on setpiece occasions like PM’s Q’s and major debates where the result might actually be in doubt, the H of C chamber is frequently just about deserted. If you go there to watch a debate on a Bill which you’re passionately concerned about, it’s pretty depressing to see how few people are there to listen to the arguments, and how they all come pouring in like ants once the vote is called, to disappear again immediately after.
The Chamber is actually too small to hold all the members, and this was deliberate design, even allowing for the fact that the number of MPs has varied considerably over the years.
Another question, what are the handful of representatives doing there anyway? What is going on that the few have to be there for? Why not shut the place down if such little business is going on?
pretty much the same things as in Response #5
“I refer the honorable gentleman from ‘not far’ to the answer given previously?” 