TWO CLASSES OF MPS – PARLIAMENT MUST WORK FOR SHIELDING MPS

Yesterday in the House of Commons I challenged the Leader of the House, Jacob Rees-Mogg, on the UK Government’s decision to limit the participation of Members of Parliament who are shielding at home, a decision that creates two classes of MPs, punishing them for not being able to attend Parliament physically during the COVID-19 pandemic.

I also called on the Leader of the House to introduce electronic voting, which is used in the Scottish Parliament, to speed up the voting process that currently during normal times sees MPs take half an hour to vote, and with social distancing has seen MPs winding their way around the parliamentary estate for around 90 minutes.

I was disappointed with Mr Rees-Mogg's responses, with the UK Government choosing to keep with outdated traditions rather than making sensible reforms that would allow shielding MPs to take full part in proceedings and would allow more time for MPs to debate issues that matter to our constituents.

You can watch the exchange below.