The Houses of Parliament’s bars have been exempted from the UK’s 10pm coronavirus curfew

Bars inside the UK’s Houses of Parliament will no longer be exempted from strict new coronavirus restrictions requiring licensed premises to close at 10pm, following public outcry about the decision.

Boris Johnson announced earlier this month that all bars and restaurants in England would have to close their doors at 10pm in a bid to halt the current second wave of infections spreading across the country.

However, those rules did not apply to pubs, bars and restaurants inside the confines of the Houses of Parliament, the Times of London reported on Monday.

Other rules compelling drinkers to register their contact details upon entering bars as well as wearing masks when not sitting at a table also did not apply, the paper reported.

Parliamentary authorities used an exemption in the rules allowing “workplace canteens” to sidestep the restrictions. 

One MP Insider spoke to on Monday said their inbox had been flooded with complaints by their constituents following the report.

However, parliamentary authorities U-turned on the decision to allow late-night drinking following the report on Monday, with a spokesperson saying that “no outlet on the Parliamentary Estate will be selling alcohol after 10 pm, with immediate effect.”

However, parliament’s cafes and restaurants will continue to remain exempt from the restrictions, the spokesperson said.

The new rules have been hugely controversial due to scenes of large crowds piling onto town centres and public transport, with even members of Boris Johnson’s government questioning the rules.

One anonymous Conservative MP told Politico: “Which clown-faced moron thought it would be a good idea to kick thousands of pissed people out from the pubs into the street and onto the tube at the same time? It’s like some sort of sick experiment to see if you can incubate a second wave.”

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