'PARLIAMENT was reopened too soon' is the view of most people in the town following the news that business secretary and Reading West MP Alok Sharma had to be tested for coronavirus.

RELATED: Business secretary and Reading West MP Alok Sharma tested for Coronavirus after appearing ill in the commons

This was announced yesterday (June 3) after he became visibly unwell in the House of Commons chamber.

He was travelling home to self-isolate after he struggled during a speech at the despatch box during the second reading of the Corporate Insolvency and Governance Bill.

A poll posted on Chronicle social media pages this morning asked if people thought it was too soon for MPs to be back in parliament.

Although results were mixed, 32 of the 57 voters on Facebook said it wasn't safe for parliament to be open.

Reading Chronicle:

Responding to the news, readers wished the MP a swift recovery.

Tony Linden commented: "Wishing Alok a speedy recovery", while Tom Blower said: "We really need to take the virus precautions more seriously.

"I am appalled at the rate of new infections.

"The cost of the lock down Is incalculable but people are still flouting the rules."

Emily Wood tweeted The Chronicle to say: "I think it's madness they're required to physically travel into London to go to work.

"They've proven it can be remote, why put themselves at risk travelling in on public transport (Alok lives near me, he'll have to had travelled by at least one train and a tube)."

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James Charles Ash tweeted: "And @Jacob_Rees_Mogg still thinks it’s a good idea to fill the benches of parliament with MPs... #COVIDー19."

Many questioned what may happen next, with Anne-Marie Lee asking: "So if Alok Sharma has come down with COVID 19, does this mean that everyone in parliament that he was in touch with has to go into isolation after involving the new test and trace system?

"Not only them, but all their wives, husbands and children etc etc..."

Elizabeth Acheson echoed this view, saying: "Let’s see what happens if Alok Sharma tests positive, that will really cause difficulties, logistically and politically. "So many potentially exposed #track&trace will really have to be on its game."

Meanwhile, Number 10 has today (June 4) revealed that Alok Sharma has not yet got his covid test result back.

Reading Chronicle:

It has also been confirmed by Downing Street today that Boris Johnson may have to self-isolate if Mr Sharma tests positive because they met in No 10 this week.

The PCS union, representing about 800 of Parliament's clerks, security guards and kitchen staff, wrote to the the PM highlighting the case in saying the decision to end virtual voting was endangering the workers.

"We believe Parliament has opened too soon and the lives of PCS members, and those of our sister unions, are being put at risk unnecessarily," general secretary Mark Serwotka wrote.

Northern Ireland Secretary Brandon Lewis stressed it was too early to suggest Mr Sharma has definitely contracted the virus.

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"I don't want to be premature because Alok, who I wish well and hope he recovers quickly, may well have had severe hay fever, we're not sure yet," he told BBC Radio 4's Today programme.

"He has had a test, he is self-isolating as you say, to take the correct precaution."
The feared case of Covid-19 in the chamber came a day after MPs approved the Government's plan to end virtual voting in the Commons, prompting renewed calls for the system to return.

MPs on Thursday will debate a motion from Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg to allow those who are shielding and those aged over 70 to vote by proxy, in a move Labour dubbed a "U-turn" and described as "chaotic".