At 8:30pm on 23 March 2020, the Prime Minister announced the first nationwide lockdown. Initially, all “non-essential” high street businesses were closed, and people were ordered to stay at home, with permission to leave for essential purposes only such as buying food or for medical reasons.
The Library briefing Coronavirus: A history of English lockdown laws provides a history of national and local coronavirus restrictions.
On the same day, the Speaker of the House of Commons made a statement advising MPs and staff to work remotely where possible.
The House of Commons rose early for Easter recess on 25 March, and during this time a one-way system was put in place across the Parliamentary Estate. When the House returned, it quickly adapted its procedures, introducing technology to allow it to continue working.
The Library briefing The coronavirus timeline: Measures taken by the House of Commons contains a detailed list of changes that were made to Commons practice and procedures.
All temporary arrangements adopted during the pandemic that were not formally made permanent expired on 22 July 2021.
What changes were made to Commons procedures and practices?
The Commons passed a series of orders and resolutions that amended Standing Orders of the House of Commons, disapplying some standing orders and bringing in temporary orders. For example, sittings in Westminster Hall were suspended from 20 March 2020.
Some changes did not require changes to the House’s standing orders. These included:
- publication of call lists (a list of the order of speakers in a debate)
- social distancing in the chamber by restricting the number of MPs in the chamber to allow for ‘social distancing’
Following preparations by the House authorities over the Easter recess, the House returned in April to new ways of working, with remote participation and remote voting for MPs who were unable to be physically present.
Remote participation
On 21 April 2020, MPs agreed to introduce ‘hybrid proceedings’ to allow MPs to participate physically or remotely in scrutiny proceedings (questions and statements).
On 22 April 2020, MPs agreed to expand hybrid proceedings to include substantive proceedings (debates and legislation).
Hybrid proceedings were initially supposed to run until 12 May 2020, but were later extended until 20 May 2020, when the House rose for the Whitsun recess.
The first Question Time under the hybrid model took place on 22 April 2020, with questions to the Secretary of State for Wales followed by Prime Minister’s Questions.
On 2 June 2020, following the Whitsun recess, the House reverted to pre-pandemic procedures, voting against an amendment that would have allowed remote voting to continue.
On 4 June 2020, MPs agreed new temporary orders to allow those unable to attend Westminster for pandemic-related medical or public health reasons to participate virtually in scrutiny business. Participation in debates was still limited to MPs who were physically present.
Following a second national lockdown in England in November 2020, calls for remote participation in debates intensified. On 16 November 2020, the Leader of the House indicated support for additional virtual participation in the Commons for MPs who were “clinically extremely vulnerable”.
Remote voting and proxy voting
The April 2020 motion to extend hybrid proceedings to some debates and legislation also enabled remote voting.
The remote voting desktop and mobile application for MPs was first made available on 12 May 2020 and the first remote division took place on a general debate, That this House has considered Covid-19. The temporary provisions that allowed remote voting expired on 20 May 2020 and were not renewed.
A proxy voting system was in operation throughout much of the pandemic, although some changes were made to the rules on qualifying for a proxy vote over time.
See the Library briefing Proxy voting in divisions in the House for information on extending the proxy voting arrangements during the pandemic.
Call lists
If MPs would like to contribute to a debate, they must rise up and down in their seats (a practice known as ‘bobbing’) to catch the Speaker’s eye and be called to speak. MPs usually indicate their interest in a debate in advance.
In April 2020, the Speaker began publishing ‘call lists’ (PDF) ahead of debates for the first time. The call lists noted the order and virtual or physical presence of the MPs that he was going to call to speak ahead of a debate. The lists removed the need for ‘bobbing’ and were intended to facilitate social distancing and virtual participation. They were published until July 2021.
The publication of call lists gave MPs greater certainty about when they would be called to speak, and there have been requests to continue publishing them.
The Procedure Committee is holding an inquiry into call lists.
Select committees
Select committees have long been able to take evidence remotely from vulnerable witnesses or witnesses based overseas. A temporary order agreed on 24 March 2020 allowed them to conduct their business remotely.
The Health and Social Care Committee was the first public select committee sitting conducted entirely over Zoom.
The ability of select committees to meet virtually lapsed on 22 July 2021. Since then, all MPs must be in the committee room, although witnesses may still appear virtually when necessary.
Were any changes kept after the pandemic?
Two adaptations in response to the pandemic have been retained:
- The April 2020 suspension of English Votes for English Laws (EVEL) was made permanent on 13 July 2021. The EVEL process added an extra stage to law-making procedures which required an additional vote for MPs representing English constituencies. This was suspended during the pandemic to reduce the strain on the division lobbies. For more information see the Library briefing English Votes for English Laws – rescinding Standing Orders.
- The use of pass readers to record MPs voting in the division lobbies are generally agreed to be an improvement and have been retained. This is not governed by standing orders, but arranged by the Speaker and the House authorities.
The Procedure Committee’s March 2021 report Back to the future? Procedure after coronavirus restrictions recommended that “the House reverts to all aspects of its pre-pandemic practice and procedure”. It did recommend that lessons learned during the pandemic should be noted and suggested that future situations could arise in which similar measures were required, such as part of preparations for Restoration and Renewal (paragraph 26).
Further information
In December 2021, the Speaker of the House of Commons issued a report, The House of Commons and the pandemic: How the House kept functioning in the face of Covid-19, that reviewed how the House of Commons responded to the pandemic. It covers the procedural changes and provides an overview of the technology used.
A list of reports made by the Procedure Committee on procedure under coronavirus restrictions is available on the committee’s webpages.
Commons Hansard blog, Hansard reporting in a pandemic: nine changes in nine months,
15 April 2020
Parliamentary Digital Service blog, MPs make history with remote voting – the story of how it happened, 14 May 2020
Institute for Government, Parliament’s role in the coronavirus crisis: holding the government to account, 21 May 2020
The Constitution Unit Blog, The hybrid House of Commons: the problems of government control, 17 January 2021
Centenary Action group, The Remotely Representative House (PDF), Dr Jessica C Smith with Professor Sarah Childs, February 2021
About the author: Sarah Priddy is a parliamentary researcher at the House of Commons Library.
Photo by: Andreea V, via Unsplash