Until now, Congress rules have banned senators and representatives in the US from taking any kind of electronic device onto the floor of the respective chambers. Even BlackBerries and mobile phones were banned – something British MPs wouldn’t recognise; they’ve been tweeting and texting from the chamber for years now. John Boehner, the incoming Republican speaker of the House is changing those rules and wants to allow members of the lower house at least to be able to bring iPads, BlackBerries and iPhones onto the floor, as long as their activity doesn’t ‘impair decorum’. Skyping and paying bills online aren’t appropriate, according to Boehner’s spokesman.

Information technology has changed beyond recognition the way we exchange information and carry out research. The internet has gone from an obscure military project to absolutely invaluable in most aspects of life in 20 years or less. Students, professionals and academics routinely use the web to find important information to support their research or work. Politicians too are in on the game; campaigns are carried out online and every MP has an email address and a web-connected computer on their desk. Surely it’s only logical to extend the so-called information superhighway into the lower chamber of British parliament.

Imagine if MPs, while sitting in on an important debate, were able to access visual and timely information from the House of Commons Library iPad app, or if Labour MPs had access to similarly timely information on their iPads from the whips’ office and party headquarters. What if a government minister, debating on behalf of the government, were able to contextualise his points by displaying photos, statistics or videos on every member’s iPad simultaneously; PMQs would also be more interactive with the use of supporting graphics and statistics. Opposition leaders, too, would be able to use their photos and statistics to support their arguments. Debate would be richer and more informative than it is today.

Of course you have to ask yourself if decorum would be affected by every MP having an iPad in the chamber? Would MPs’ focus be shifted in the wrong direction? Would there be a temptation to check Facebook and Twitter rather than focus on the debate in the chamber? Perhaps devices like iPads would mean MPs could be more usefully in-touch with their offices from the chamber, possibly resulting in more MPs attending debates and fewer nearly-empty sessions for all but the most interesting debates.

Francis Bacon coined the maxim ‘knowledge is power’. In the 21st century, the age of the internet, vast amounts of information are available literally at ones fingertips. Bringing that information to the work of our lawmakers can only be a good thing, and parliament should look at ways to allow MPs to access the information superhighway from the green leather benches. The world around the lower chamber benefits all the time from being connected; we don’t want parliament itself to fall behind.