LABOUR'S new modernising army of MPs is proving to be more traditionalist than people realised, writes Ken Smith.

It was widely assumed the new intake would enthusiastically embrace high technology for voting at the House of Commons rather than the tired old method of trooping through the lobbies under the gaze of Whips and tellers.

However a survey released yesterday showed that 53% of MPs preferred to keep the current system.

The Modernisation Select Committee decided in the wake of the survey to drop proposals to switch to smart-card or even fingerprint voting.

Edinburgh Pentlands Labour MP Lynda Clark, a keen supporter of updating the Commons, said she was very disappointed with the result - particularly as nearly a third of the new intake did not bother taking part in the survey. She felt a number may simply have lost the voting form amongst the welter of paperwork which descends upon MPs. ''Despite the vote, my personal view is that this system still needs change in order to make it far more efficient.

''I actually don't accept that there is overwhelming support for the status quo, but obviously I have to accept the outcome,'' she commented. Ms Clark said she would still press for changes to be made.

The survey showed that the current system was the only one rated ''acceptable'' by more than half the MPs who responded.

Fingerprint readers were acceptable to almost half (49%), but 38% of MPs objected to the use of them in principle. All the other options, including using infra-red handsets, were considered unacceptable by at least half of MPs.