Shipley MP Philip Davies has called for guidance be issued on what is or is not appropriate to ask the Speaker of the House of Commons – in an attempt to prevent a repeat of scenes in Parliament which saw some MPs stage a walk out.
An SNP led opposition day debate calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza descended into chaos after Speaker Lindsay Hoyle allowed the Labour Party to table an amendment to the SNP motion, which goes against Parliamentary protocol.
Sir Lindsay claims he wanted MPs to have a say on all options given the seriousness of the issue, but the SNP said the Speaker had allowed Labour to hijack the debate. It was later reported Labour had threatened the Speaker and forced him to accept their alternative suggestion – something Labour Leader Keir Starmer “categorically” denies.
Speaking in Parliament Mr Davies said such an incident must never happen again and MPs needed to get on with delivering for their constituents. He called for guidance from the Speaker or senior Deputy Speaker Eleanor Laing regarding conversations with them.
He said: “There has been lots of reports about what pressure was or was not placed on Mr Speaker before his decision yesterday and I do not want him to be asked to breach any confidences, because any conversations between the Speaker and MPs should remain private and we should respect that.
“But I think it would be helpful if perhaps if the Speaker or the Chairman of Ways and Means (Ms Laing) could issue to members of this House, what is an appropriate way to make a request of the Chair or of the Speaker and what would be considered undue influence or inappropriate or over the top requests. If we could have some guidance, it may stop any instances in the future where members are accused of intolerable pressures on the Chair as we would all know where we stand and what was acceptable and was not acceptable.”
The events in Parliament have seen some MPs call for the Speaker to resign.
But Mr Davies believes the majority of MPs still have confidence in Sir Lindsay.
Mr Davies described him as a “good, decent and honourable man”.
Mr Davies added: “He has my full and total support. He made a mistake yesterday and unlike most politicians he has been big enough to come to the House and admit he made a mistake, if only other MPs would admit when they made a mistake, we would be seen in a better light.”
