Sir Lindsay Hoyle apologises to SNP after Gaza debate chaos as MPs call for him to be stripped of role as speaker – UK politics live

Hoyle apologises to SNP, offers to let them hold emergency debate, but defends wanting to protect MPs

Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, is responding to Flynn.

I will reiterate I made a judgment call that didn’t end up in the position where I expected it to.

I regret it. I apologise to the SNP … I apologise and I apologise to the house. I made a mistake. We do make mistakes. I own up to mine.

I would say that we can have an SO24 [standing order 24 – a procedure, normally used a handful of time a year, that allows a three-hour emergency debate to happen if an MP requests on and the speaker agrees it is necessary] to get an immediate debate because the debate is so important to this house.

I will defend every member in this House. Every member matters to me in this house.

And it has been said, both sides, I never ever want to go through a situation where I pick up a phone to find a friend, of whatever side, has been murdered by terrorists.

I also don’t want another attack on this House. I was in the chair on that day.

I have seen, I have witnessed, I won’t share the details, but the details of the things that have been brought to me are absolutely frightening on all members of this house, on all sides.

I have a duty of care, and I say that, and if my mistake is looking after members I am guilty.

All MPs are at risk, he says. He had serious meetings with the police yesterday. Heading into the election, there are threats.

He repeats the point that he is offering an SO24 debate.

There are cheers as he sits down.

UPDATE: Hoyle, the speaker, offered to let the SNP hold an emergency debate. I interpreted that that as his offering an emergency no confidence debate, but colleagues who were in the chamber have interpreted that as a reference to an emergency Gaza debate. We are seeking clarification, but I have amended the headline in the meantime.

FURTHER UPDATE: Hoyle was offering an emergency debate on Gaza, not on his future, sources say.

Lindsay Hoyle in the chair today. Photograph: PRU/AFP/Getty ImagesEmail link

Updated at 09.20 EST

Key events

Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, has now signed the Commons early day motion expressing no confidence in Sir Lindsay Hoyle. There are now 61 MPs backing it.

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At first minister’s questions in the Scottish parliament the Commons chaos was ignored entirely as opposition leaders tore into the SNP on domestic challenges.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross led on a “damning” report published this morning by Audit Scotland that said the increased pressure on the NHS was now having a direct impact on patient safety, as the service found itself unable to meet growth in demand.

Ross quoted the report stating there was no “overall vision” for the future of the health service.

But Humza Yousaf, the first minister, insisted that, while he took the report “very seriously”, there was record investment and staffing in the NHS in Scotland.

The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar clashed with Yousaf on Labour’s proposed windfall tax, which the first minister attacked as putting thousands of jobs at risk earlier in the week. Sarwar accused Yousaf of siding with the energy giants over working people and made the comparison that is likely to feature heavily in forthcoming election leaflets: that Yousaf appears to be defending big energy companies from paying more tax on their profits, while anyone earning over £28,000 in Scotland pays more income tax.

Humza Yousaf at first minister’s questions today. Photograph: Ken Jack/Getty ImagesEmail link

This is what the Conservative MP Derek Thomas told the World at One about why he has signed the EDM expressing no confidence in Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

I am an MP who lived through the Brexit years where parliament just was not functioning, we weren’t able to represent or serve our constituents as we should have been, and so much of that was because the speaker at the time [John Bercow] just tended to veer away from what would have been described as the normal way of running things in the House of Commons.

And, unfortunately for me, yesterday was just a return to that, and I immediately felt deeply uncomfortable about what was being done, what the speaker had proposed, how he had taken away the right of the SNP to hold their debate as they normally would. It does not work for anyone, or serve any of our constituents.

Thomas said that “this close to an election” the Common could not afford to have a speaker lacking judgment in that way.

But, when asked if the EDM would make a difference, he replied:

If Lindsay survives, it will certainly help maybe just for him to realise that to do anything that goes against his own clerk’s advice is not wise counsel. Maybe it will just help to correct things, and be a warning shot across the bow to make sure that parliament generally works.

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Here is Guardian video of Penny Mordaunt’s intervention in the Commons earlier, where she defended Sir Lindsay Hoyle and accused Labour of undermining him.

Penny Mordaunt accuses Labour of doing ‘damage’ to house speaker – videoEmail linkHoyle’s appeal to MPs – snap verdict

Business questions is now over. The highlight came towards the end, when Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, responded to a question from Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, in which Flynn said that the SNP has decided collectively it no longer has confidence in Hoyle. He called for a no confidence vote. (See 12.43pm.)

In response, Hoyle in essence pleaded for his job. He said that he had made a judgment call that turned out to be wrong and he apologised almost grovellingly to the SNP. But then, quite movingly, he talked about the “absolutely frightening” material he has been shown about the threat to MPs, and he stressed his commitment to keeping people safe. I’ve beefed up the post at 12.45pm about his words with direct quotes. (You may need to refresh the page to get the update to appear.)

Was it enough? No 10 refused to express confidence in Hoyle earlier, which suggests Rishi Sunak is still sitting on the fence (one of his less edifying habits – remember how he avoided taking a stance on the standards committee report into Boris Johnson). Sunak may be waiting to see where the consensus view in the Conservative party settles before expressing a view in public.

But at this point it looks as if the threat to Hoyle’s future may be receding. During business questions there was no Tory anti-Hoyle feeding frenzy, and instead he received support from government backbenchers, including some who have not been shy of picking fights with previous speakers. (See 12.45pm and 12.22pm.) Penny Mordaunt, the leader of the Commons, praised Hoyle repeatedly as a “decent man” and played down prospects of allowing a no confidence vote. (See 12.43pm.) Within the past two hours only two new signatures have been added to the no confidence early day motion, where numbers are now stuck at 59. And one of those Tories who did sign it, Derek Thomas, suggested on the World at One only a few minutes ago that, if the EDM were to result not in Hoyle’s resignation, but in the speaker just being a bit more careful about making anti-Tory rulings next time, he would regard that as an acceptable outcome.

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Updated at 09.22 EST

The speaker is offering to allow an emergency debate on Gaza, not an emergency no confidence vote in himself, sources have confirmed. (See 1.07pm.)

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Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, offered to let the SNP hold an emergency debate. (See 12.45pm.) I interpreted that that as his offering an emergency no confidence debate, but colleagues who were in the chamber have interpreted that as a reference to an emergency Gaza debate. We are seeking clarification, but I have amended the headline in the meantime.

Email linkStarmer defends lobbying Hoyle over Gaza vote, but insists he never threatened him ‘in any way whatsoever’

Keir Starmer has defended his decision to lobby Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the speaker, yesterday over the Gaza debate. Starmer met Hoyle in person, hours before the vote, arguing that the speaker should ignore precedent and allow a vote on the Labour motion.

But Starmer denied threatening the speaker. Speaking to journalists on a visit in Sussex, he said:

I can categorically tell you that I did not threaten the speaker in any way whatsoever.

I simply urged to ensure that we have the broadest possible debate.

So that actually the most important thing , which is what do we do about the situation in Gaza, could be properly discussed by MPs with a number of options in front of them.

The allegation that Starmer may have threatened Hoyle with the prospect of Labour not voting to reappoint him after the election if he did not back them yesterday was prompted by tweets posted by Newsnight’s Nicholas Watt yesterday. But, as Watt explained on the Today programme this morning, he was never suggesting that this was something being said by Starmer; his tweets were about what other Labour figures have been saying in private in recent days. (See 10.45am.)

Keir Starmer speaking to the media at Three Bridges, Crawley, West Sussex, this morning. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PAEmail linkHoyle apologises to SNP, offers to let them hold emergency debate, but defends wanting to protect MPs