Coronavirus: MP calls for ‘virtual parliament’ if Westminster remains closed after Easter

A senior backbench MP has called for the development of a “virtual parliament” to allow scrutiny and voting to take place if Westminster is unable to reopen as planned after Easter.

Commons education committee chairman Robert Halfon said that parliament was “a hotbed of ill-health”, while Labour’s Lucy Powell said she was aware of “dozens” of MPs who have shown symptoms of coronavirus.

Barrow and Furness MP Simon Fell was the latest to reveal he has suffered Covid-19, joining a list of at least 29 known to have gone into self-isolation after experiencing a persistent cough and high temperature.

Among those who have tested positive for coronavirus are prime minister Boris Johnson and health secretary Matt Hancock, as well as health minister Nadine Dorries, who was the first MP to go down with the virus on 6 March

It emerged today that Mr Johnson's senior aide Dominic Cummings is also self-isolating after experiencing symptoms over the weekend.

Ms Powell tweeted: “So many MPs have had/got the symptoms. Suggests either Parliament was a hotbed of spreading virus or a much higher proportion of public have had it than first appears. To my knowledge dozens of MPs …”

Conservative backbencher Mr Fell said that he began “shivering to my bones and feeling feverish” last Friday and developed a dry cough later in the day.

He said he was able to continue working through the weekend, despite flu-like symptoms, and now feels his condition is improving.

“So, if that’s it - two or three days of a fever, is it that bad?” he asked. “I say firmly, yes.

“Walking up the stairs yesterday evening, it felt as if I had a clamp on my chest. I had to stop twice before making it all the way up.

“At no point was I worried, but it immediately made me think of my own family and friends who are older, and why this virus would be so difficult for them to shake off.”

The House of Commons is currently due to return on 21 April. Commons authorities are working through the recess to improve videoconferencing facilities as a matter of priority.

But Mr Halfon told BBC Radio 4’s Westminster Hour that he thought schools, as well as parliament, may be unable to reopen after Easter.

“If it looks by the end of April that it’s getting worse and worse and worse and not getting better and that we haven’t reached the peak before it slows down, then the schools will remain closed,” said the Harlow MP.

“In terms of parliament, that is a hotbed of ill-health, who knows what is going to happen.

“They may keep it open. I hope very much that we can develop some kind of virtual parliament, if it is shut and if we’re not able to go, where we can vote online and walk through virtual division lobbies.”

The education committee held parliament’s first ever online session last Wednesday after it was agreed that decisions could be made electronically without members being physically present at the meeting.

“I think that is an incredible precedent and a constitutional change that’s going to have big ramifications in the future,” said Mr Halfon.

The House of Commons broke up early last Wednesday for its Easter recess, which was due to start on 31 March.

In the final week before its doors closed, MPs had been observing social distancing measures by sitting apart from one another on the green benches, but there were concerns that the crowded conditions in the chamber and voting lobbies, as well as the presence of thousands of people from all parts of the country in the building, made Westminster a breeding ground for the virus.