Commons Speaker Speeding up the Reopening of the House

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker of the Commons, hopes to speed up the reopening of the House so that Parliament may return to normal sooner than was previously anticipated. Guido Fawkes has the story.

A new message sent to MPs says he will now encourage the Commons Commission on Monday to implement “all changes possible” under the current Government guidance, due to the reduction in the Covid alert levelPreviously he was dragging his feet…

The changes he wants [include]:

~ The Chamber: Subject to final public health advice the chamber should consider moving from 2m social distancing to 1m+

~ Catering: Introduction of the rule of six – up from the current situation of tables with just one chair

~ Terrace Pavilion to open indoor and outdoor

~ Smoking room to be opened…

~ Non-pass holders: It is hoped the Commission will be able to support a limited return of access for non-pass holders for a greater variety of business reasons

Sir Lindsay has also requested that overseas committee visits resume.

Worth reading in full.

This comes as pressure from Tory backbenchers grows for Parliament to return to normal. Some MPs believe this could encourage companies across the country to speed up their reopenings. The Express has the story.

Peter Bone (Conservative, Wellingborough) told MPs: “I am afraid Parliament isn’t working. It is not holding properly the Government to account and it strikes me that Parliament should lead.

“So, could we have a statement from [Jacob Rees-Mogg] the Leader of the House telling us that Parliament – and particularly the House of Commons – is going to be restored to normal process and that we will end virtual proceedings?

“We won’t have hundreds of votes in the Deputy Chief Whip’s pocket and we’ll have proper voting and we’ll end social distancing in the chamber.

“We really need to lead and get Parliament back doing its job properly.”

Jacob Rees-Mogg says that he “hopes” the House will be back to normal from June 21st.

The Express report is also worth reading in full.

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DanClarke
DanClarke
4 years ago

Sounds like Sage have been allowed full access to lobbying for the Pharma Groups

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago

I wonder why people are losing trust in science…

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2021-05-contact-tracing-apps.html

A study published today in Nature shows that the NHS COVID-19 app for digital contact tracing, based on the DP3T protocol, averted between 300,000 and 600,000 COVID-19 cases in England and Wales. 

oh. did i just fall into a field of laxative addicted cows?

B.F.Finlayson
4 years ago

averted

= delayed (at best) for an unspecified time period be it a day, a week, a month, who knows? C19 is endemic, one cannot avoid catching it.

RickH
4 years ago

They were bulls.

Sam Vimes
4 years ago

Easy to tell if somebody catches something. Easy to tell if they don’t. How do you tell that they didn’t, but would have?

RickH
4 years ago
Reply to  Sam Vimes

If you wish hard enough.

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago
Reply to  RickH

SAGE just click their red shoes together and say there’s no place like lockdown, there’s no place like lockdown, there’s no place like lockdown.

Susan
4 years ago
Reply to  Sam Vimes

This virus you can catch without developing the disease. It’s likely many have been exposed but didn’t develop symptoms. So, yes, I would think impossible to accurately claim how many cases have been “averted.”

covidiot
covidiot
4 years ago

I assume that means they told 300-600k people to self isolate on the basis of contact data uploaded from people’s phones????

Richard Austin
Richard Austin
4 years ago

Why is Westminster allowed to break the Law by having a smoking room? “Smoking room to be opened…”. That is illegal in any workplace and Westminster is most definitely a workplace although the inhabitants largely do bugger all unless it comes to voting to lock us all up and boy do they come alive then, some of them even wake up!

TheyLiveAndWeLockdown
4 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

If it wasn’t for double-standards, MP’s wouldn’t have ANY standards.

AfterAll
4 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

.

pvenkman
pvenkman
4 years ago
Reply to  Richard Austin

They don’t anymore haven’t since 07

Cecil B
Cecil B
4 years ago

They are thieves and bums however many they have in chamber

Julian
4 years ago

Well the guidance says you should work from home if possible. Hard to say with MPs whether that applies to them or not really – they didn’t do much of use when they were physically present. Though I tend to think when they are getting a wigging from some sceptic MP like Swayne they ought to be there in person – even if it’s just water off a duck’s back.

As for it encouraging offices to reopen, what nonsense. Offices might reopen if the government says the whole thing was nonsense, no-one will get in trouble for not distancing, no-one will get sued for giving their employees covid and insurance companies can’t insist on coronamadness safety theatre, and that masks and distancing on public transport are not needed. But they won’t say that, and even if they did, many would not believe them. They cannot close Pandora’s Box.

RickH
4 years ago
Reply to  Julian

Not having the Commons open certainly works in the government’s favour.

RickH
4 years ago

Just pondering :

“Jacob Rees-Mogg : ‘Leader’ of the Commons”

Says it all. Grunt Grunt Baa Baa.

DanClarke
DanClarke
4 years ago

Dont think they’ll find my MP, he’s been MIA since this started, popped up on twitter a couple of weeks ago and gone again.

huxleypiggles
4 years ago
Reply to  DanClarke

Please name the bastard.

Old Maid
4 years ago

The Express “worth reading …”?!! It’s usually about four days behind the news
.

Lucan Grey
4 years ago

Why haven’t all MPs been vaccinated and returned to work?

After all they expect other people to be vaccinated. They should lead by example.

monica coyle
monica coyle
4 years ago
Reply to  Lucan Grey

Because they know the vaccinations are causing deaths in the healthy? Others (less important people) can be part of a risky pre-planned experiment, but not them!

marebobowl
marebobowl
4 years ago

What on earth are these people so scared of? They all had the wonderful vaccines to “protect” them. They still want to wear masks and socially distance, why? They took the jab, thought they were invincible.

covidiot
covidiot
4 years ago

If they don’t get it reopened soon, they won’t be able to close it again in a couple of months when we lockdown again