CHAOS IN THE COMMONS OVER GAZA VOTE
IN a dark day for democracy a Westminster debate on calls for a ceasefire in Gaza descended into chaos after the Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle was accused of allowing it to be “hijacked” by Labour.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle sparked fury from both SNP and Conservative MPs when he broke with convention to allow a vote on a Labour motion for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”.
SNP MPs walked out of the chamber en bloc in protest at the Speaker’s action, joined by a sizeable number of Conservative MPs.
The Speaker later apologised for his unprecedented decision, saying he had acted “with the right intentions”, but his position is increasingly seen as untenable by many.
The SNP said they had been “treated with complete and utter contempt” and have lodged a motion of no confidence in the Speaker.
They added: “Today should’ve been about a ceasefire in Gaza and protecting the lives of innocent civilians. Instead, Westminster turned it into a circus.
“Today’s shameful events show Westminster is utterly broken. This should have been the chance for the UK Parliament to do the right thing and vote for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and Israel – instead it turned into a Westminster circus.
“It is a disgrace that Sir Keir Starmer and the Speaker colluded to block Parliament voting on the SNP motion for an immediate ceasefire and against the collective punishment of the Palestinian people.
“More than 29,000 Palestinian children, women and men have been killed – and huge swathes of Gaza have been obliterated while Westminster equivocates.
“People in Gaza and Israel, and voters in Scotland, have been badly let down – they deserve so much better than this.
“The SNP will continue to press the UK government and parliament to back an immediate ceasefire. The time for equivocation is over.”
Following the chaos in the Commons chamber Labour’s amendment eventually went through without a formal vote, after the government said it would not take part in protest. This meant there was no formal vote on the SNP’s motion, which called for an immediate ceasefire.
The Former leader of the Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith has said he believes Sir Lindsay Hoyle was put under ‘intolerable pressure’ from Labour to include their amendment.
Sir Iain said he believed Labour wanted their amendment ‘to try and stop some kind of rebellion’ from within their own party and has called for the vote to be rerun.
Speaking on GB News last night, Sir Iain Duncan-Smith said: “There’s never normally a second amendment to an opposition day motion. Opposition days are about giving the opposition a chance to put their motion forward. Otherwise, all they’re ever doing is reacting to government.
“That standing order gives them a shot and having a vote on their motion before it’s amended.
“Tonight, that was all put into chaos because I think, due to the intolerable pressure the Speaker was under was to add the Labour amendment in.
“We know why Labour wanted their amendment in, it wasn’t just to express their view it was to try and stop some kind of rebellion on their part.
“Under the normal saga, it would have been the SNP first and we would have voted on the SNP [motion], not theirs.
“The government withdrew and said, we’re not going to put our amendment to the motion because it’s chaotic and messy. That’s the moment when they should have reversed the process back to normal and had the SNP one first. But the Speaker was determined that the Labour one would be done first.
“That’s where the chaos arose, because in all the rows that went on, they weren’t able to do it because in the noise, the Deputy Speaker quickly passed the Labour amendment.
“The SNP have expressed a lack of confidence [in the Speaker]; I don’t know where they’ll take it. I’m very fond of the speaker, he’s been very good in many ways, and he’s defended our rights.
“I think the truth is he was put under intolerable pressure by Labour’s determination to bend the rules so they can have their own amendment.
“Many on the Labour front bench need to reflect on the position they’ve left him in.
“I think we should rerun all of this personally, because I think the public should and deserves better from Parliament and the Speaker should never have been put under that pressure.”
After all the noise, all the drama, the government does not even have to adopt Labour’s position as the vote is not binding! So a hollow victory for Labour, then – but a deeply damaging day for Westminster democracy.
