Covid-19 Update

Kirsten Oswald Excerpts

Wednesday 5th January 2022 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend, but what we are doing is ensuring that we support hospitals up and down the country that are facing the pressures he describes, not only with more staff but with more facilities and on-site Nightingales, as I said in my statement.

[Kirsten Oswald (East Renfrewshire) (SNP)]

My hon. Friend the Member for East Dunbartonshire (Amy Callaghan) and the hon. Members for Chatham and Aylesford (Tracey Crouch), for Bradford West (Naz Shah) and for North East Fife (Wendy Chamberlain), all of whom have been affected by the lack of proxy voting and remote participation, have jointly written to the Leader of the House seeking the reintroduction of remote provision. That is not just a covid issue, but we certainly see now how much it is needed. It matters because, as things stand, Parliament is excluding MPs and disenfranchising their constituents. Will the Prime Minister throw his weight behind their calls to modernise and ensure that no Member is prevented from fully representing their constituents?

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to the hon. Lady. I think I speak for everybody here when I say what we want to see is the House getting back to normal business as fast as possible, and to that end I suggest that everybody follows the guidelines and gets boosted.