MEMBERS of parliament are to be dragged into the internet age with a proposal to introduce “virtual surgeries” with their constituents using webcams.

Geoff Hoon, leader of the Commons, believes that the innovation will show that MPs are in touch with modern technology and give them more flexibility in dealing with constituents’ problems. The sessions would supplement face-to-face meetings held at weekends.

The move will be popular with some MPs weary of long weekly journeys to far-flung constituencies in the north of England, Scotland and Northern Ireland. They will instead be able to stay in touch from the considerable comfort of their Westminster offices.

Others, however, will be alarmed at the prospect of dramatic cuts to their income from travel expenses if too many meetings are transferred to the internet: MPs claimed £3.73m for car mileage alone last year. One MP claimed that he travelled 62,000 miles between London and his constituency, racking up a bill of £22,845 for the taxpayer.

There may be other drawbacks. Fears have been raised that some politicians could use the computers to terminate discussions with troublesome or boring constituents at the click of a mouse.

Some veteran MPs believe the whole idea is unnecessary. “Webcams? I have a surgery once a fortnight and I have done for 47 years,” said Sir Peter Tapsell, Conservative MP for Louth and Horncastle in Lincolnshire. “People want to meet one face to face, not over the web. If they want to write, they can write. Many of them want to meet me privately across a desk and there’s no substitute for that.”

Hoon put forward the scheme after hearing how American senators and members of Congress use the technology to keep in touch with constituents in far-flung states.

The MPs will be able to use their parliamentary allowances to buy the computer equipment needed and will be encouraged to use it when they do not have time, or do not wish, to see voters in person.

Hoon is keen to ensure that computers are not used by northern MPs, many of whom are southerners by upbringing, as a ploy to spend weekends in the capital. He emphasises that virtual surgeries on weekday evenings should supplement rather than replace face-to-face meetings, which are held on Saturdays or, when the Commons is not sitting, on Fridays.

The scheme, endorsed at a private meeting of the cross-party modernisation committee last week, is among a range of proposals designed to make politicians and parliament more accessible to voters.

The MPs on the committee are determined to haul Westminster “kicking and screaming” into the 21st century.

“MPs and parliamentary authorities have to be much more willing to use the opportunities of modern technology, particularly if we are going to reach out to younger voters. We need to learn from experiences in the very modern parliaments of Scotland and Wales and, crucially, the experience of parliaments internationally,” said Hoon.

The modernisation committee also wants to scrap a ban on laptops and handheld computers such as BlackBerries at official meetings at Westminster.

MPs cannot use the equipment in debates or at select committee meetings because it is feared that they could be tempted to send private e-mails or conduct private business.

Although there is no suggestion computers will be brought into the Commons chamber, the modernisation committee argues the current blanket ban is anachronistic. It argues that laptops could make MPs’ meetings far more efficient.

For further modernisation tips, the committee is to visit the Welsh assembly and the Scottish parliament, which were deliberately set up without Westminster-style pomp such as the “men in tights” who act as ushers. The trip will take place before the summer recess.

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