Coronavirus: Kilometre long queues to vote will make us 'look like the stupidest parliament in the world'
The plans for debate and voting have been called "beyond a farce" that would disenfranchise MPs who are shielding.
Tuesday 2 June 2020 06:37, UK
MPs will return to parliament in person today, despite a growing rebellion over plans for voting to take place in queues up to a kilometre long.
For several weeks, MPs have been able to vote electronically and join debates by video link, under virtual House of Commons arrangements, which have now come to an end.
Only 50 MPs can sit in the Commons while maintaining a two-metre distance from each other; but ministers insist all MPs who can safely return must now do so.
If the government's plans are agreed this afternoon, MPs would have to travel to Westminster to debate and vote in person while following social distancing rules. It raises the prospect of parliamentarians forming a queue a kilometre long snaking through the building.
Former Labour minister Chris Bryant said: "It will be like queuing for the Eiffel Tower. We'll look like the stupidest parliament in the world."
The Electoral Reform Society has branded the plans "beyond a farce" which would discriminate against MPs who cannot attend in person for health reasons.
:: Listen to the Daily podcast on , , ,
Several senior Tories have backed amendments calling for remote voting and virtual attendance to continue for those MPs prevented from attending due to coronavirus.
Conservative MP Robert Halfon, who is in the shielding category and advised to stay at home, has called the proposals "absolutely not right and democratically unjust".
Mr Halfon, who is expected to make the journey to Westminster to vote tomorrow, said it was right for MPs who could do so to return, but that those who were sick themselves or caring for family members would become "parliamentary eunuchs".
Leader of the House Jacob Rees-Mogg has said the "hybrid" arrangements, which have been in place since April whereby 50 MPs attend in person, and the rest participate online, are "no longer necessary".
"Politics is better done face-to-face, even if the whites of the ministerial eyes are six feet away", he wrote in the political magazine The House, yesterday.
"In the chamber frontbenchers will have to keep on their toes as interventions are once again made possible. This exceptional aspect of British democracy, curtailed under the hybrid halfway house, can once again flourish."
It is expected around 400 MPs will return to Westminster, leaving up to 250 unable to because they are shielding, vulnerable due to being over 70, pregnant, or with a health condition, or caring for others.
A Conservative former cabinet minister, speaking anonymously, told Sky News the "ridiculous" plan had attracted "a lot of opposition in the party" - but the government would most likely get it through. They said: "It makes no sense to me, to disenfranchise people and their communities on the grounds of health.
"The government are burning up a lot of capital here, especially after Cummings. MPs can't even go to the chamber in greater numbers, they would just sit in their offices and then queue for hours to vote, when they could do it in seconds online."
Downing Street said the return of MPs is necessary in order to make progress with legislation. A senior government source said talks with all sides were ongoing.
But many MPs suspect the government is worried about being unable to successfully whip controversial votes if MPs are not physically present.
Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle sent guidance to MPs last night on how today's proceedings would work. They will not enter the traditional division lobbies, where MPs typically crowd in, but queue at two-metre intervals outside the chamber to vote, along an agreed route.
In rehearsals, he said this had taken around half an hour. Sir Lindsay said in an interview last week that he was "very, very worried about somebody coming in who may be infected and before we know it, that has been passed around".
In a statement last night, Sir Lindsay said: "As remote voting has lapsed and Public Health England have deemed our Division lobbies unsafe, I have had to devise a temporary way forward to break the deadlock - because the House must be able to have its say.
"It is not perfect, it will take time, and Members will need to be patient. But, it is the safest method I can think of to enable Members and supporting staff to maintain social distancing."
Opposition parties are up in arms about the decision. They also say it is not safe to have MPs commuting from Westminster to their constituencies every week.
Shadow leader of the Commons Valerie Vaz said: "Jacob Rees-Mogg's discriminatory proposals would result in two classes of MPs.
"The abolition of the hybrid remote parliament which allowed all MPs to take part regardless of their personal circumstances is discriminatory and would not be acceptable in any other workplace."
The Prime Minister's official spokesman has said MPs who need to shield "should continue to do so" and that pairing - whereby an MP from the opposing side also sits out the vote - would allow this to be done fairly.
The House of Lords, meanwhile, is developing a new online voting system for peers expected to be ready by the middle of the month.
This week from today to Thursday, Dermot Murnaghan will be hosting After The Pandemic: Our New World - a series of special live programmes about what our world will be like once the pandemic is over.
We'll be joined by some of the biggest names from the worlds of culture, politics, economics, science and technology. And you can take part too.
If you'd like to be in our virtual audience - from your own home - and put questions to the experts, email afterthepandemic@AG百家乐在线官网.uk