The government is going to give all 650 MPs an iPad Air 2 after the election
MPs who win a seat in the next general election will not just get a seat in the House of Commons – but they’ll also get themselves a brand new iPad, apparently.
According to the, umm, ever reliable Daily Express, the Commons Commission has decided to dish out the tablets in a move that is said to cost £200,000 a year. Apparently the idea is to reduce the amount of paper used in Parliament – which, as you might imagine, is rather a lot.
Labour MP Chi Onwurah, who is one of the few MPs tech savvy enough to understand what is going on isn’t happy though – she is instead advocating a “device agnostic” solution, arguing that leaving all MPs at the mercy of Apple could be a bit dodgy. According to Parliament though, sticking with Apple makes the most sense, as Parliament’s IT people can remotely manage and crucially, remotely secure Apple’s devices in one place.
It remains to be seen whether any Sinn Fein MPs that are elected, who refuse to take their Commons seats, will also choose not to take the free iPads.
