Boris Johnson Wants to Put Lawmakers in a Half-Mile Long Line

(Bloomberg) --

In its enthusiasm to get life back to normal after the coronavirus lockdown, Boris Johnson's U.K. government may be creating a rod for its own back in Parliament.

When the House of Commons returns to work Tuesday, members of parliament will no longer be allowed to speak by video and vote remotely as they have been during the pandemic. The chamber itself will remain socially distanced, with room for only 50 of the 650 MPs.

As MPs try to decide how things should now work, Jacob Rees-Mogg, the Leader of the House of Commons, has put down a motion on behalf of the government saying lawmakers should be physically present for votes. But the usual procedure, in which hundreds of people squeeze through passages on either side of the chamber to have their votes registered, is a health risk.

The proposed alternative would see a long, socially-distanced line stretching around the Palace of Westminster. If all members wanted to vote, it could easily reach half a mile. Votes would take longer than the current 15 minutes each and the House of Commons Procedure Committee estimated it would be at least twice that.

This creates an opportunity for the opposition if it wants to make trouble for the government, by calling lots of votes. Britain's political class spent the weekend on YouTube, enjoying the National Theatre's lockdown release of the 2012 play “This House,” depicting how Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Party destroyed the Labour government of the late 1970s by forcing vote after vote, often late at night, in a tight Parliament.

Johnson shouldn't have such worries: He has a majority of 80. But if MPs have to be present for socially distanced voting, it could be the government that suffers, with ministers forced to spend hours of each day standing in line. That prospect could be enough to make them see the virtues of compromising with their opponents and holding votes remotely.