MPs have overwhelmingly rejected any moves towards electronic voting in the Commons.

A new study shows that 70% want to keep the existing system where they file into the famous "yes" or "no" lobbies at the end of debates.

Suggestions that voting could be speeded up by the use of electronic smart cards, fingerprint readers or even infrared handsets were hugely unpopular.

Around half of the MPs questioned said they would be prepared to accept some form of electronic voting - but the only method deemed acceptable by the majority was the current system.

The select committee on modernisation of the Commons asked all 659 MPs to answer a questionnaire setting out their preferences.

A total of 53% put the current voting system as their first preference, and only 13% favoured smart cards and a further 13% fingerprint readers.

But when they were asked which system they found most acceptable, a massive 70% supported the status quo, while 49% wanted fingerprint readers and 45% smart cards.

As a result, the committee has decided the issue is dead.

"It is clear from the response that no one alternative to the present system commands any great support and that all of them are regarded as unacceptable by between 46% and 65% of members who replied," the MPs concluded.

"By contrast, the present system is preferred by an absolute majority of of the respondents and is acceptable to 70%.