The Coronavirus pandemic has presented parliaments with significant technical, procedural and political challenges, at Westminster and around the world. This page brings together our Covid-19 content, covering the UK Parliament’s adaptation to the crisis, UK Coronavirus-related Statutory Instruments, and the responses of other legislatures around the world.
The UK Parliament’s response to the pandemic has been controversial, highlighting longstanding issues around the use of technology, governance structures, differences between the two Houses, the role of MPs, and government control of House of Commons business and procedures.
- Proposals for a ‘virtual’ Parliament: how should parliamentary procedure and practices adapt during the Coronavirus pandemic? (Joint post with Professor Meg Russell, Director, UCL Constitution Unit)
- Remote select committee evidence-taking is a Coronavirus change that should be kept
- Procedure under Coronavirus restrictions: written and oral evidence to the House of Commons Procedure Committee
- How is the Petitions Committee representing the public amid the procedural and practical restrictions of the Covid crisis? – Catherine McKinnell MP, Chair, House of Commons Petitions Committee
- Building on the ‘Brady amendment’: how can Parliament scrutinise Coronavirus regulations more effectively?
- Why the exclusion of pregnant MPs from the House of Commons during Covid-19 matters – for them and for others – Professor Sarah Childs, Royal Holloway, University of London
- The marginalisation of the House of Commons under Covid has been shocking; a year on, Parliament’s role must urgently be restored (Joint briefing with Professor Meg Russell, Director, UCL Constitution Unit; Dr Ronan Cormacain, Senior Research Fellow, Bingham Centre for the Rule of Law; and Dr Joe Tomlinson, Senior Lecturer in Public Law at the University of York and Research Director of the Public Law Project)
- The care home Covid vaccination Regulations: a case study in problems with the delegated legislation system
- The House of Lords after the pandemic – Sir David Beamish
- What Covid Regulations might MPs be asked to debate on 14 December and how will the Regulations be approved?
The Coronavirus outbreak posed common challenges to parliaments around the world that differ widely in terms of size, procedure, culture and technological capabilities. Our ongoing series of blogposts illuminates how some have responded:
- How are parliaments responding to the Coronavirus pandemic? – Dr Andy Williamson, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
- How Jersey’s legislature has risen to the Covid-19 challenge – Mark Egan, Greffier of the States of Jersey
- Ireland’s new Parliament: Political and physical change coincide amid Covid-19 crisis – Dr Mary C. Murphy, University College Cork
- How the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated parliamentary modernisation – Dr Andy Williamson, Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU)
The Coronavirus crisis saw UK ministers being granted and using broad legislative powers to make a large body of Coronavirus-related Statutory Instruments (SIs), often at speed and in ways that highlighted and challenged Parliament’s already-inadequate ability to scrutinise delegated legislation. Our Coronavirus Statutory Instruments Dashboard is the only source that combines the full list of Coronavirus-related SIs laid before the UK Parliament with real-time data on the powers and procedures being used to lay them and the breakdown of departments responsible.