Why does the speaker say Unlock after each vote?

[ssd]

Does anyone know

When it’s time to vote, a bell goes in the parliamentary estate and MPs who are in committees / their offices race to the vote. A short time after the bell goes the speaker says “lock the doors”. If you’re not there by then you miss out. Once the vote is completed he says “unlock” - so the lobby of the commons can again be accessed.

Thanks for that. DS14 and I are watching. We’re caught between laughing at the pompous jargon and marvelling at the history behind it all.

Thank you! I always wondered too

What are tellers & why are there 2 for each side (ayes or nays)?
thanks!

Interesting and ridiculous at the same time

If anyone is interested you can have a (paid for) guided tour of parliament. They do a child friendly version as well. It’s fascinating.

Or if you can convince your MP to invite you to parliament they can take you round for free.

Not really ridiculous. It can seem archaic but what it mostly is is procedural. Quite often those procedures are the result of past abuses and are there to make sure that parliament is fair, open and honest.

But we also have one of the oldest parliamentary systems in the world so the statutes are sometimes old and complicated. Remembering that parliament in it’s original form was made up of the aristocracy and answered only to the king. Later, it developed to bemore representative. Most of the rules are designed to hold the government to account.

The tellers verify the votes and there are two from each side to ensure fairness and that their votes cancel each other out. That way you couldn't get the party in government appointing the people vote counting and sneakily padding the vote each time or losing a few if it's close.

The tellers do the counting - there are two to make sure verything is accurate and there's no cheating!

I recommend a tour of the place, it's fascinating.

I grew up about a mile from parliament square. Our steeet was in the area close enough that MPs who lived there could have a “minute bell” fitted at home, so they could go home and still make it for evening votes. There were several MPs in our street!!