UK virtual parliament makes debut, but not without a glitch

As Britain endures its fifth week of a national lockdown, with businesses shuttered and citizens ordered to stay at home, parliament returned on Wednesday from an extended Easter break in a very unfamiliar form.

A maximum of 50 lawmakers were physically allowed in the debating chamber, with another 120 permitted to join in via Zoom video conference beamed onto television screens dotted around the walls of the ornate wood-panelled room.

A couple of early questions in the session just before stand-in leader Dominic Raab's question time were partly inaudible, and one questioner was unable to connect.

But he overall process was not derailed.

Under the format, the House of Commons, parliament's elected lower chamber, will sit on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays, with the first two hours taken up by questions to government ministers and ministerial statements.

Prior to the session, lawmakers had expressed concerns that the choreographed question session would blunt their ability to skewer ministers with unexpected follow-up questions.