SPECIAL REPORT: COMMONWEALTH PARLIAMENTS' RESPONSES TO COVID-19
In this interview with the Electoral Reform Society, UK Parliamentarian, Wera Hobhouse, MP speaks about the ‘hybrid-virtual’ Parliament and the difficulties facing smaller parties in the Legislature.
How have the UK House of Commons’ virtual Parliament arrangements been working? The parliamentary services have done a fantastic job - the technical side is fine. You notice what a crisis can do – all things we never thought were possible, they’re now sorting out. Online voting! That’s progress we never thought would be possible in 20 years. In terms of procedure, the parliamentary business that we’re currently covering is very limited. The spontaneity has been completely curtailed. You can’t bob up during Ministerial questions to ask additional questions – it’s very regimented. That has a negative impact on smaller parties [like my party the Liberal Democrats] – it’s regulated via ballot. The opportunity to come up in a ballot [for a virtual debate] if you’re 11 MPs out of 650 is very rare. The other way to intervene virtually is through your whips office as a spokesperson. This is allocated on a political balance basis, so small parties have very few opportunities to speak.
Speaker will create some opportunity to do that? Who knows what the wonders of tech will allow us to do in the future? But currently it’s very limited. I’ve not gone to London at all, and have kept working remotely. The volume I can cover going from Zoom meeting to meeting [is good]! Usually we have to cover some ground in Parliament! Are there any changes that might last? I’ve been having a ‘climate cluster’, a weekly meeting of council figures [on green issues]. The number of participants [with virtual proceedings can] increase massively. But I don’t think in future we can go entirely away from physical meetings. I can’t wait for some element of physical meetings coming back, with the proviso that it’s safe. There’s definitely an advantage to be physically in the chamber Does it matter that you’re not in the chamber? It is a ‘hybrid’ system in that some people are still physically in the chamber. You can’t speak up unless you’re on the Speaker’s list. I don’t think constituents would find it different whether I’m speaking from my computer at home or filmed standing up in the chamber. Either way they’re seeing what I’m doing, so that doesn’t matter. The recommendation is to deliver virtual contributions sitting down, so you don’t get people only seeing your neck or your chin. Is it tidy enough, do I show off my bookshelf…where do you put your speaking notes? These things are all being debated in parliamentary teams!
How can that be counterbalanced? We have to work extra hard to make our voices heard. In a physical Parliament that was possible – in a virtual Parliament that was not possible at all. I’ve only spoken once in three weeks – and then only because the whips put me forward as spokesperson. Otherwise I appear silent! The time [for virtual debates] doesn’t exceed anything over four hours. Usually, when we start at 11:30 on a Tuesday we go on until 7. We have Westminster Hall debates, and backbench debates on a Thursday. All these opportunities are currently not there. Therefore, it’s probably a quarter of the normal parliamentary activity. We could increase the number of MPs participating in [virtual] departmental questions, otherwise this will not improve. The spontaneous element – I don’t know how to improve that. We’ve all got used to Zoom meetings, but there are limited opportunities where you can raise your hand – who knows if the
122 | The Parliamentarian | 2020: Issue Two | 100 years of publishing 1920-2020
Below: The UK Parliament's first trial for online voting. Image credit: UK Parliament
Image credit: UK Parliament
LIFE FOR A BACKBENCHER IN THE UK'S VIRTUAL PARLIAMENT
