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The U.K.’s Parliament scrapped online sittings on Tuesday, meaning its 650 members will have to return to Westminster to vote on the government’s policies.
Lawmakers will form half-mile queues through the Palace of Westminster before voting in the House of Commons chamber by walking through the left or right side to vote yes or no respectively – bringing an end to online sittings, which have been held since April. Each vote is expected to take around 30 minutes.
The new social distancing voting method began on Tuesday with hundreds of MPs joining the queue outside Parliament to vote on the proposed system, which was subsequently passed.
The traditional voting system sees members from opposing parties file into crowded rooms to vote for or against a proposal, which isn’t possible under social distancing guidelines.
Parliament has met virtually using Zoom ZM, +2.13% since April, with only 50 members of Parliament (MPs) allowed in the chamber at a time. MPs have also been voting online since last month. But the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, argued on Tuesday for a return to in-person proceedings.
“Parliament is the assembly of the nation,” he said, “by not being here the house has not worked effectively on behalf of constituents.”
Critical MPs compared the new voting system to lining up at a theme park and called it the ‘Mogg Conga’, while some said it excludes older and vulnerable MPs from the democratic process.
“Tomorrow the Govt wants 650 MPs to stand in a giant queue to vote on how the Commons makes decisions from now on. As somebody in the ‘vulnerable’ category, I am unable to join them,” Labour MP Margaret Hodge tweeted on Monday.
