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Parliament's bulletproof security screen may be removed to let more MPs back in the 'lifeless' Commons chamber.
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has asked officials to investigate the temporary removal of the glass screen which separates MPs from the public gallery.
The screen was installed in 2004 at a cost of £1.3million after MI5 warned MPs faced a specific security threat.
That year, protesters had hurled condoms packed with purple powder at Tony Blair while he stood at the dispatch box.
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But with the public gallery likely to remain closed indefinitely because of Covid restrictions, officials are now investigating whether it could be used to allow more MPs to take part in debates.
Regulations mean that just 50 out of 650 MPs are currently allowed into the chamber at any time.
Although MPs can take part in most debates remotely, many have complained that the lack of MPs - who have to sit at least two metres apart and wear masks when not speaking - has sucked the life out of proceedings.
'It is lifeless at the moment. Parliament is meant to be the cockpit of democracy but at the moment it is a shadow of its normal self,' said a parliamentary source.
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Commons officials are hoping the Chamber will be treated in the same way as theatres in the lockdown roadmap and be allowed to have more MPs in from June 21.
But in case Public Health England refuses to relax distancing measures, Sir Lindsay has asked for options for the removal of the 15-metre security screen.
A source acknowledged that the move was likely to be expensive and create problems about where to store the huge screen.
It is likely that microphones would also have to be installed to enable MPs to be heard.
Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg also said this week: 'I think this House is better when it is physical, it is more immediate and the quality of our debate is significantly improved.'
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