MPs are today expected to agree to plans for a ‘virtual’ House of Commons which will allow 120 to take part remotely while the number in the chamber will be capped at a maximum of 50.
If the ‘hybrid’ way forward is given the go ahead this afternoon the new way of working will start from tomorrow.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle this morning urged as many MPs as possible to take advantage of the digital offering and to ‘stay at home’ in order to protect against the spread of coronavirus.
Any MPs who do insist on physically attending will be required to adhere to strict social distancing rules and to sit at least two metres away from colleagues.
Meanwhile, the passing of notes will be banned and the Commons doors will be kept open to reduce the risk of infection.
MPs, led by Sir Lindsay Hoyle yesterday, rehearse how the new ‘virtual’ House of Commons will work
A series of television screens have been installed in the Commons chamber so that MPs who are physically present can see their ‘virtual’ colleagues
Sir Lindsay said he hopes the number of MPs actually sat on the famous green benches will be far below the maximum of 50.
He has insisted that all MPs – whether virtual or physically present – will be treated exactly the same.
The House of Lords will also make a decision today on its own plan for virtual proceedings.
But the upper chamber has sparked outrage from democracy campaigners after it said a live video feed will not be available for the first two weeks it will be sitting which means peers will effectively be sitting in private with a summary report published later.
Parliament has been in recess since March 25 and many MPs had called for an early return so they could demand answers from ministers on the government’s approach to the current outbreak.
Those calls went unanswered but the Commons will initially get back underway briefly today and then fully tomorrow.
Today will see the a skeleton crew of MPs asked to agree to the ‘hybrid’ measures and they are expected to do so without holding a formal vote.
The video process will then be used as of tomorrow morning – just in time for PMQs which is likely to see new Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer grill stand-in PM Dominic Raab, but it is unclear if either will actually be in the chamber.
Under the plans a maximum of 50 MPs will be allowed in the chamber at any one time while up to 120 MPs will be able to participate remotely.
Parliament’s decision-makers believe the 50 MP cap will not need to be enforced because many are not expected to make the journey back to Westminster.
Sir Lindsay is expected to chair proceedings from Westminster as normal.
Initially the digital way of working will only apply to departmental question sessions, urgent questions and government statements.
But if it works smoothly it will be rolled out to also apply to debating new legislation and motions as quickly as possible.
MPs who want to take part will be required to notify Common staff in advance and a list of participants will then be drawn up.
In terms of which backbench MPs are called to ask questions and in what order, this will be done as normal via random selection with questions alternating between the government benches and the opposition.
The crunch issue of voting is yet to be tackled and any shift to digital voting would have to be formally agreed to by MPs in the coming weeks.
Sir Lindsay has begun to pave the way for that change by asking Parliament staff to come up with a secure system to allow remote divisions to take place.
MPs who do attend – a maximum of 50 will be allowed – will be told to sit at least two metres from their colleagues
Corridors near to the House of Commons chamber have been marked up with tape so MPs can adhere to social distancing rules
Any votes which take place in the meantime – if there are any – will be done in such a way as to adhere to social distancing measures.
A number of television screens have been put up in the Commons chamber to allow the Speaker and other present MPs to see their ‘virtual’ colleagues.
Sir Lindsay said he wanted as many MPs as possible to work from home, telling the BBC Radio 4 Today programme: ‘My advice is please stay at home, let’s do it remotely.
‘Those that insist on coming – we can have up to 50, I’m not expecting 50 members in at once, far from it, I’m hoping that number is much reduced.’
He stressed there would be ‘no advantage’ for an MP in the chamber over one working remotely.
Those MPs who do attend in person will be asked to follow a number of social distancing rules.
They will have to sit at least two metres apart on the benches, the doors to the chamber will be kept open permanently and all MPs will be asked not to pass any notes.
The House of Lords is also due to get fully back up and running tomorrow but its plans have sparked outcry.
Lord Speaker Lord Fowler will chair proceedings from home but the initial proceedings will not be broadcast.
Reports will be published, summarising what happened, but live broadcasting of proceedings is not expected to start until May 5.
It comes after a row over whether peers should be able to claim their full expenses given many will be working from home.
Darren Hughes, chief executive of the Electoral Reform Society, said: ‘It is jarring to see lords lobbying to receive their full £323-a-day expenses – without voters being able to see what they’re doing with it.
‘This will strike most people as tone-deaf when millions of workers have had to make sacrifices during this crisis.
‘Voters across the world expect to see the legislators they are paying: it’s a core part of democratic transparency. This seems to be another sign of the Lords failing to meet the democratic standards voters expect.’