Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle – The NEN

UK Youth Parliament annual session at Westminster today

TODAY (Friday 28 February), more than 300 elected Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) aged 11-18 will represent the views of their peers and hold debates on a range of topics.

Young people from across the UK, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies will return to the House of Commons Chamber today for the annual sitting of UK Youth Parliament.

The debated motions will include:

16- and 17-year-olds should be allowed to vote in all elections and referendums, accompanied with more political education throughout school.
That the National Minimum Wage for every worker under 22 be raised, to match the National Living Wage for those over 22.
All public transport should be free for young people.
All young people in the UK must have access to a standardised level of political literacy and democratic education to improve engagement in politics on a local, national and international level to develop critical thinking skills.
To establish period dignity, there should be free, accessible, good quality period products available in public spaces for everyone.

The debate areas are part of the UK Youth Parliament Manifesto for 2024-2026 ‘Shaping Our Future, Today Not Tomorrow’ which was created by the MYP’s at their Annual Conference in October 2024, drawing on the views and issues raised by young people from across the UK.

For the first time in the House of Commons, an MYP will use British Sign Language to deliver his speech. A BSL interpreter will communicate this via a microphone in the Commons Chamber.

Speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, said that he is “very proud that this sitting of the UK Youth Parliament will be the most inclusive and exciting yet.

“I cannot wait to hear the thoughts and views of young people from across the UK, the British Overseas Territories, and the Crown Dependencies, on the issues that matter to them.”

Leigh Middleton, OBE, CEO, National Youth Agency: “Youth voice is a central tenet of youth work and the UK Youth Parliament provides young people with a valuable opportunity to debate the issues which they have identified as being important whilst gaining first-hand experience of the political process.

“The Annual Sitting really is the highlight of the UK Youth Parliament calendar when we get to see the young Members of Youth Parliament shine in the prestigious setting as they deliver their impassioned speeches and arguments for reform.”

The debates will be streamed live (with an approximately 20-minute delay) on parliamentlive.tv and YouTube.

Find more information about UK Youth Parliament from the House of Commons Library Research Briefing.

UTTER SHAMBLES!

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.”

https://twitter.com/i/status/1760407612200222787

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.

Commons Speaker hosts Holocaust Memorial Day ceremony

The Speaker urged people to “learn the lessons of the past” as he hosted a special commemoration for Holocaust Memorial Day in the House of Commons.

The international date remembers the six million Jews murdered under Nazi persecution, and the victims of subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur.

‘One Day’ is the theme chosen by the Holocaust Memorial Trust – which focuses on a moment in time that changed forever the lives of those affected by genocide.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, who was joined by faith leaders, MPs and the parliamentary community to light candles and read personal accounts from victims of past atrocities, urged colleagues “to remember, to learn and to hope there may be One Day in the future with no genocide.”

“Holocaust Memorial Day prompts us to learn the lessons of the past and recognise that genocide does not just take place on its own – it’s a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented,” he said.

“As we have heard, so much can happen in one day. Lives can be changed; they can be ended, but they must never be forgotten.”

Commons Leader Jacob Rees-Mogg, former minister Dame Margaret Hodge and shadow foreign secretary David Lammy, Rabbi Debbie Young-Somers and Laura Marks, chair of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust, were among those taking part in the ceremony in Portcullis House led by Speaker’s Chaplain Revd Tricia Hillas.

The House of Commons was among iconic buildings and landmarks across the country to be lit up in purple last night to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day.