Parliament a galaxy far away

“It’s parliament Jim, but not as we know it”, I can hear Dr Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy explain to Captain Kirk.

MPs returned after their Easter break. Well, sort of. The people running the show are doing their best to observe the rules during the coronavirus emergency. Two metres apart is the norm, only 50 MPs will be allowed into the chamber at any one time. Much of the stuff that goes on around the House of Commons remains closed. On top of the limited physical presence another 120 MPs can join in online through the miracle of modern technology. In truth, for those of us who have been using this tech a lot over the last month it doesn’t always feel miraculous.

The hybrid parliament is to make sure that an individual MPs opportunities to participate are the same whether they are there in person or not. Which means the whole thing is limited by the technology. That means the maximum time per day is two hours and the maximum number of people that can take part is 120. Which does sort of strike me as odd, and not very futuristic, given my 90-year-old mother in law can master Zoom on her iPad.

There is certainly a need to hold the government to account. There are a million questions to be asked. But whether this works we will have to see.