PARLIAMENT’S procedures to prevent the spread of coronavirus have left Scots “feeling voiceless in an institution that no longer represents them,” according to new research.
Leader of the House of Commons Jacob Rees-Mogg has long insisted it’s important that MPs are present in Westminster to properly scrutinise the Government.
During the first lockdown MPs could vote remotely. However, over the summer, the Commons returned to a hybrid model with some MPs granted a proxy – allowing one of their colleagues to vote on their behalf.
In their report, academics from the University College London’s Constitution Unit warn that the Government’s unwillingness to allow electronic voting had “disproportionately affected MPs from the smaller opposition parties, highlighting a failure in the decision-making structure to sufficiently take into account the circumstances of these MPs.
“This failure, we contend, risks de-legitimising the Westminster Parliament in the eyes of people living in the devolved nations,” they add.
There are 73 constituencies not represented by the Tories or Labour, but despite that, Westminster is designed “both physically and in its rulebook, with an emphasis on the two larger parties”.
The academics said MPs from Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland often “felt that the Leader of the House was often asking them to breach the rules set by the governments within their own nations in order to travel to Westminster.
“There seems to have been no official recognition of the importance of ensuring that MPs from all parts of the UK are able to participate in all proceedings or of the value to parliamentary scrutiny which is afforded by the representation and participation of all political parties in the Commons.”
Rees-Mogg has long argued that MPs need to be in place to effectively carry out their role.
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