Written evidence submitted by Dave Doogan MP (CVR 15)

 

  1. It is vital that members and by extension their constituents should not be disenfranchised from proceedings in parliament during this crisis by virtue of their geographical location on these islands. It is clearly harder during this pandemic to physically access parliament, and therefore of greater risk to members, the further away from London their constituency is.

 

  1. It is a minimum requirement that members’ welfare be prioritised the same way as other members of society is, and this must include an acceptance that with 650 members there will be widely differing health circumstances which need to be respected and mitigated. Many members, myself included, look and behave in an otherwise healthy manner but in fact have significant underlying health conditions or are physically compromised in a similarly hidden way. There is no single MP’s reality or lived experience.

 

  1. In addition, members families need to be respected especially if they are shielding or otherwise vulnerable.

 

  1. In the UK, if one nation prohibits the type of travel required to access Westminster then the UK Parliament must respect this – no if no buts.

 

  1. The work of parliamentary staff and the Speaker’s office in facilitating new systems and procedures allowing members to stay at home and fight the pandemic while still participating in parliamentary procedures, debates, votes etc is outstanding and they must be commended for it. It makes no sense now that this system is operating well to abandon it with a premature physical return to parliament.

 

  1. Parliament must be subject to official guidance, not tempted to run ahead of it and risk putting the health of staff, members, their families and communities at risk with a premature return to physical sitting.

 

  1. The guidance to industry and the wider economy is to work from home if this is possible. It is possible to do this as MPs so that is what we need to do. If Parliament can’t lead by example, then where does this leave the UK?

 

  1. I’m a new 2019 MP and want to return to my job in parliament the minute its safe to do so. The operative word however being safe.