SNORE-DER! SIR LINDSAY BIDS TO BREATHE LIFE INTO DESOLATE COMMONS

WESTMINSTER is in a glum mood as the current parliamentary term wraps up.The Commons begins a short break on Thursday before returning for the ceremonial reopening and Queen’s Speech next month.

Few MPs are in any great hurry to get back. Covid restrictions have sucked the life out of the Chamber and the Westminster village.

“The atmosphere is dismal at the moment,” one Tory backbencher told me. “This has been my first week back in the building. I don’t know why I bothered. It’s dead in here.”

Another veteran MP spoke of the small numbers trooping through the “aye” and “no” lobbies with so many MPs working remotely. “About 30 of us went through the voting lobbies for one vote the other night. When I looked at the result more than 300 people had taken part. It shows just how many are voting by proxy now,” the MP said.

MPs hope the current “hybrid” parliamentary sittings – which began a year ago this week – will be dropped by October at the latest.

Yet with Public Health England setting the rules, there is no clear roadmap to normality.

Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is known to be frustrated by the lifeless atmosphere caused by severe restrictions on the numbers allowed in the Chamber at any one time. He is investigating ways of raising attendance.

One radical idea is to strip out the security screen in front of the public gallery to allow more room for MPs.

“The Speaker has asked officials to investigate the feasibility of removing the screen temporarily in order to allow more members to take part in person, while also following any guidelines from Public Health England,” his spokeswoman told me.

Officials are believed to be balking at the cost of removing the screen. But radical measures may be needed to revive full-blooded debate.