Ministers’ plea to MPs: Get off Zoom and get back to House of Commons
MINISTERS are secretly encouraging Tory MPs to sabotage plans for politicians and their staff to keep working from home – to get the House of Commons back to normal.
The sight of some MPs holding Ministers to account via Zoom video calls from their homes or constituency offices has become part of the Commons’ response to the pandemic. So too have been images of a Commons Chamber restricted to only about 50 people –including officials – being present in person at any one time under two-metre social-distancing rules.
Government sources complain that any bid to get more MPs in by relaxing that to one metre were met by Public Health England warnings that MPs would have to make all their speeches sitting down. But The Mail on Sunday understands Ministers privately want Tory colleagues to object this week to the proposed renewal of the remote-working arrangements to show an example to the country that people should get back to work in the office. One Government source said: ‘It only takes one MP to shout “object” and the renewal of remote-working would fall.
‘Yes, it could be reintroduced the following day but we need to show an example to get people back into work wherever possible.’ The source also insisted any MPs who for medical reasons could not be present at Westminster should still be allowed to work from home. However, the move is likely to spark fury from leading Opposition MPs, who only yesterday insisted that the remote arrangements were still an ‘ absolute necessity’ for some colleagues amid fears of further spikes of the virus.
Separately, former Tory leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith insisted it was now time to ‘get rid of ’ the Commons’ two-metre rule as ‘one metre is enough’.
He told The Mail on Sunday: ‘The Chamber is dead right now – it’s a dead place. It’s dull because hardly anybody can get in. Everything has to be booked for questions – there’s no impromptu interventions. So many people choose to be at home and do it from home.’ But Sir Iain added: ‘ Unless you are i n the protected sector, you should be in the House.
‘ The House authorities should look now to getting more people in the Chamber.’
However, Commons sources hit back last night by insisting that relaxing the social distance rules to one metre would only allow another 25 MPs to be in the Chamber at any one time.
New Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey this weekend insisted that the hybrid arrangements had to continue, saying: ‘There will be many parliamentarians and parliamentary staff with good reason for being unable to be in Westminster in person.’
Transport Secretary Grant Shapps faced embarrassment last week after issuing a call saying it was safe for people to return to work – from his home in Hertfordshire.