London, May 31 (IANS) The UK’s House of Commons or the lower house of parliament should continue its virtual meetings while the threat of coronavirus remains, a committee has said.
The Commons’ Procedure Committee published a report on Saturday following the announcement by Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the Commons, that MPs will be recalled to Westminster on June 2 in person to address issues while ending the “virtual Parliament” temporary measures, reports Xinhua news agency.
House of Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle has written to all 650 MPs saying the rules limiting the number of MPs allowed into the famous debating chamber will continue to be just 50 politicians at any one time.
Since April, the vast majority of MPs have been following proceedings and participated from their homes via a video link.
It was the first time in the Commons 700-year history that a hybrid system has been launched, which allows up to 120 MPs at any one time to take part in proceedings virtually, while around 50 could remain in the chamber under strict social distancing rules.
Fears have been expressed that if the virtual parliament is scrapped, MPs unable or unwilling, because of the pandemic, to return to work in the Houses of Parliament, will be denied the chance to vote on key issues.
The rules which allowed the virtual meetings of parliament to take place have now lapsed, and on Tuesday MPs will decide what happens from now on.
One of the biggest issues is how MPs participate in voting.
The time-honoured system of MPs crowded into lobbies to vote “yes” or “no” would mean current distancing rules being broken.
Hoyle said in his letter the traditional lobbies were unsafe to use for voting.
He has given the government until Monday to put forward proposals for how MPs will take part in votes.
One proposed idea is to introduce a system in which MPs line up, two-metres apart, to vote one-by-one in the chamber of the Commons.
A media report said the queue could be 1 km long if most MPs turned up to vote.
The committee’s report recommends that a form of virtual participation should be allowed to continue while coronavirus restrictions are in place.
This is to allow MPs who are not able to head to Westminster because of the continuing restrictions caused by the pandemic to contribute to debates and represent their constituents.
–IANS
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