Green MP Proposes Hemicycle Design To Replace Parliamentary Chamber

Green MP Ellie Chowns has called for the House of Commons chamber to be redesigned as a hemicycle, to foster more co-operation among parliamentarians and create a larger seating area for MPs.

Chowns, the newly-elected MP for North Herefordshire, has also called for electronic voting to replace in-person voting in Parliament to improve efficiency. 

Under a programme of restoration and renewal, the House of Commons will need repair work which could cost the taxpayer between £7 billion to £13 billion over a ten year period. The Green MP told PoliticsHome this gave developers the time to restructure and knock down the voting lobbies to increase the size of the parliamentary chamber. 

“There’s so many aspects of procedure and so forth that really limit productivity. You would never get away with it in business or in the charity sector,” she said.

“We’ve also got the whole business of having to decant [the Palace of Westminster]. I think that’s a real opportunity to perhaps think about how things could be physically reorganised.

“I’d love to see a hemicycle in Parliament. We’ve got this chamber that is... two-swords width apart, and there’s far too little seating for the number of people that need to be there.

“Let's take the opportunity to get rid of those walls [and] get rid of those voting lobbies. I’m sure it can be done [while retaining] of a lot of the heritage”

Prior to being elected, Chowns was a former councillor for Herefordshire in 2017. She was re-elected onto the council with almost 80 per cent of the vote share in 2019.

Chowns is an expert in international development, with a PhD in the subject from the University of Birmingham.

She was a successful candidate in the European parliamentary elections in 2019 and served as