Jacob Rees-Mogg tells MPs to ‘set an example’ to public and return to Westminster within weeks

Jacob Rees-Mogg told MPs today that he wants to see them return to Westminster within weeks to ‘set an example’ to the country.

The Commons leader said he did not want to see temporary arrangements – which have seen MPs join debates via webcam – extended beyond the Whitsun recess, which is due to start on May 20 and end on June 2.

He insisted that when MPs did return, they would only do so under strict social distancing rules.

Labour said the move was a ‘surprise’, adding that ministers must provide evidence that they are taking into account the health needs of MPs.

During a debate on extending the measures that have allowed MPs to join via webcam, Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘It is my expectation that I will not have to renew these temporary standing orders again.’ He is pictured above on the front benches during an emergency debate on a no deal Brexit on 3 September 2019

The comments came on the day that MPs cast votes remotely for the first time in the history of Parliament.

During a debate on extending the measures that have allowed MPs to join debates via webcam, Mr Rees-Mogg said: ‘It is my expectation that I will not have to renew these temporary standing orders again.

‘It is clear that soon Parliament must set an example of how we move back gradually to a fully-functioning country again. Our constituents would expect nothing less.

‘So while we must move in step with public health guidance, it is vital that when we are asking other people to work and go to their places of work if they cannot do so from home we should not be exempt from that. 

‘Indeed, we should be leading by example.’

A screengrab released as a handout illustration by Parliament on May 12, 2020 shows a test of the remote voting system on Memberhub that MPs used to cast votes

Mr Rees-Mogg, who was criticised after he lay on the front bench in the Commons during a Brexit debate last September, praised the parliamentary authorities for setting up the system but said it has its limitations. 

He said it ‘restricts our ability to conduct effective scrutiny and to pass the volume of legislation required by the Government’.

A Labour spokesman said: ‘Today’s surprise announcement that ministers expect Parliament to return to business as usual in the next few weeks and end the successful hybrid virtual system flies in the face of the Government’s own public health advice and its message to work from home where possible.

‘The priority must be protecting the health and well-being of all those who work in Parliament. Ministers must publish the public health advice as a matter of urgency.’