LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s House of Commons, where lawmakers notoriously jeer at rivals seated two sword-lengths away, is about to find out whether it can make ministers sweat over Zoom.
FILE PHOTO: The statue of Britain’s former Prime Minister Winston Churchill is silhouetted in front of the Houses of Parliament in London January 24, 2015. REUTERS/Luke MacGregor
When parliament returns this week for its first new session in the age of the coronavirus, just 50 of the 650 members will be allowed into the chamber, kept apart by lines taped on the carpet to enforce social distancing rules.
Another 120 will be selected to appear by Zoom on screens dotted around the green benches. The rest will have to watch silently from home.
In a system that has prized in-person debate for centuries as the crucible of democracy, lawmakers and scholars are questioning whether a video conference parliament will produce the heat needed to hold the government to account.
“It’s a bit like being…
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