London, Apr 21 () Britain's Parliament is preparing for MPs to return to the House of Commons from their Easter recess to pass a law on Tuesday to hold virtual debates and pave the way for a historic "hybrid" parliamentary setting amid the coronavirus lockdown.
Unprecedented changes to the main House of Commons chamber, designed more than 300 years ago, will be rolled out to let politicians tune into statements and question sessions via videolink.
Up to 120 MPs will be able to quiz government ministers on videoconferencing platform Zoom, while a maximum of 50 will be allowed into the main debating room itself to be seated at a safe distance from each other.
Prayer cards, normally used to reserve places for MPs on the Commons benches, will be replaced by green and red symbols indicating where they should and should not sit in order to keep the recommended six feet distance.
Screens have been installed in the chamber to allow MPs to speak remotely while the limited number attending in person will be signposted where to sit. The new practices will initially operate until May 12, although could remain in place for longer.
Once formally approved by MPs, the new hybrid system will come into force from Wednesday for Prime Ministers' Questions (PMQs) – likely to be led by UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab as the deputy for British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is convalescing after his COVID-19 hospitalisation.
The Commons business on Tuesday and Wednesday is expected to focus exclusively on the government's response to the pandemic.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle led a rehearsal on Monday in which ministers faced questions via videolink. He has urged MPs to participate from home as much as possible, pledging those in the chamber would be at "no advantage" to their colleagues working remotely.
While the new system will not initially be used for debating legislation – which will be confined to those actually in the chamber – MPs have called for it to be extended to other forms of parliamentary business.
The plans were thrashed out by the Commons authorities to help MPs continue to press the government on behalf of their constituents while still encouraging the public to stay at home.
Commons votes will still take place in the usual way for now - meaning MPs have to walk through one of two halls to register if they are supporting or opposing a motion. But officials say they are working on a "secure system" that could see remote voting introduced.
The Commons Procedure Committee – which looks at the ways MPs conduct business – said it was right for the Commons Speaker to ask the authorities to examine whether remote digital voting could be introduced for a "strictly time-limited period".
In a report welcoming the wider changes proposed by the Speaker, it said remote voting would be a "fundamental change to the way that the House has conducted its business".
"We will wish to give detailed consideration to any system developed to supplement or to replace existing mechanisms for divisions, where such a system will which enable absentee voting," it said.
Remote working will also be in operation in the House of Lords, where some non-legislative debates will be taking place virtually.
Britain's MPs and most parliamentary staff were sent home in late March as part of a nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of the new coronavirus that has killed over 16,000 and infected nearly 125,000 people. AK MRJ MRJ