Commons voting lobbies ‘unsafe’
Ministers have been told to come up with a new way for MPS to vote before parliament returns next week, after public health officials ruled that Westminster’s voting lobbies were unsafe.
Public Health England advised that it would not be safe for MPS to vote in the traditional way of filing into division lobbies, despite measures such as perspex booths being put in place as part of efforts to allow for votes to take place.
It led to accusations that Commons Leader Jacob Rees-mogg has bungled the government’s move to end the hybrid Parliament virtual parliament despite protests from opposition MPS.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay wrote to MPS yesterday saying he had agreed to the government’s request that parliament return to physical sittings, with no virtual component to debates. Social distancing measures will cap the number of MPS in the chamber at 50.
But in his letter to MPS, he said that the public health advice is now “very different” from what it was when the decision to end the virtual parliament was announced, adding that the Commons “simply cannot conduct divisions safely via the lobbies”.
Labour’s shadow commons leader Valerie Vaz said the confusion over voting was “the latest example of the Government in chaos”.
“Jacob Rees-mogg tried to abolish the hybrid remote Parliament, which allowed all MPS to take part regardless of their personal circumstances, without any prior notice and against all advice on the last day Parliament met,” she said.
“He has bungled it and is now forcing Parliament to return early solely to correct his earlier discriminatory move.”
Responding to the announcement on Twitter, SNP Cabinet Office spokesman Pete Wishart said: “The Government wants us to come back to a Parliament that can’t work. attempt to ask any political questions.”
Both advisers later said they did not wish to get involved in politics, with Prof Whitty replying: “The desire to not get pulled into politics is far stronger on the part of Sir Patrick and me than it is in the Prime Minister.”
Sir Patrick added: “I’m a civil servant, I’m politically neutral, I don’t want to get involved in politics at all.”
Opposition MPS said the fact police believe Mr Cummings may have breached the rules showed that members of the public were right to be outraged at his behaviour, which they claim has undermined public health messages.
Westminster opposition leaders held a conference call with the Prime Minister yesterday afternoon, during which the SNP’S Ian Blackford told Mr Johnson that his adviser should be sacked.
“I told the Prime Minister that he needs to put public health first and remove Dominic Cummings from post,” Mr Blackford said.
“There cannot be one rule for the Tory government and another for everyone else.
“We now have confirmation from Durham Police that Mr Cummings broke the regulations – and we already know that he broke UK government guidance.”
The SNP MP added: “There is serious concern that this scandal is eroding public trust in the health guidance and distracting from efforts to tackle coronavirus – including the success of test, trace and isolate schemes, which rely on public adherence to the rules.”
Labour shadow Home Secretary Nick Thomas-symonds said: “The police have confirmed what we all knew, that Dominic Cummings broke the rules he helped to write. The country cannot afford for this saga to carry on. Only Boris Johnson can draw a line under it.
“Keir Starmer has said that if he was Prime Minister, he would have sacked Dominic Cummings.
“Boris Johnson should follow that advice.
“If he does not act then he will send a clear message that there is one rule for his closest adviser and another for the British people.”
In its statement, the force said: “Durham Constabulary have examined the circumstances surrounding the journey to Barnard Castle – including Anpr[automatic number plate recognition], witness evidence and a review of Mr Cummings’ press conference on 25 May 2020 – and have concluded that there might have been a minor breach of the regulations that would have warranted police intervention.
“Durham Constabulary view this as minor because there was no apparent breach of social distancing.”
Durham’s former chief constable Mike Barton said he believed the force statement used the word “might” in relation to Mr Cummings breaking the regulations as they could not be seen to be acting as judge and jury.