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A House of Commons vote on the Israel-Hamas war descended into chaos on Wednesday night as Conservative and Scottish National party MPs walked out of the chamber in protest at the Speaker’s handling of the issue.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle’s position appeared in jeopardy after he broke with convention to allow a vote on a Labour amendment to a SNP parliamentary motion calling for a ceasefire — a move for which he later apologised.
Hoyle’s decision handed opposition leader Sir Keir Starmer a reprieve, since it defused the prospect of a large-scale rebellion by Labour MPs on Gaza but sparked outcry from other political parties.
The Labour amendment, which called for a ceasefire with conditions, was eventually approved without a vote.
A visibly upset Hoyle told the Commons he had made his decision because he was concerned about the security of MPs and their families, alluding to threats issued to politicians over their stances on the war.
“I regret . . . that it has ended up in this position, it was never my intention,” the former Labour MP said. “I did not want it to end like this.”
The Speaker said he wanted to meet party leaders and their chief whips to have a discussion on “what is the best way forward”.
As the debate neared its conclusion, Commons leader Penny Mordaunt had announced that Rishi Sunak’s Conservative government would be withdrawing its own amendment to the SNP motion. “The government will play no further part in the decision this House takes on proceedings,” she said.
Mordaunt blamed the Speaker for allowing votes on both Labour and Tory amendments: “Regrettably Mr Speaker has inserted himself into the row and undermined the confidence of this House.”
In protest at his decision, SNP MPs briefly walked out of the Commons chamber along with large numbers of their Conservative counterparts. In a sign of disarray, the Commons also voted on — but rejected — a motion to hold a session in private.
Stephen Flynn, the SNP’s Westminster leader, later told Hoyle: “I will take significant convincing that your position is not now intolerable.”
The Speaker’s decision to allow a vote on Labour’s amendment diminished the likelihood of the party’s MPs defying Starmer by supporting the more strongly worded motion from the SNP, which had initiated the debate.
But his choice confounded expectations that the Labour amendment could not be voted on under parliamentary conventions, since the government had also put forward an amendment of its own.
An ally of Hoyle earlier dismissed claims that he had bowed to pressure from Labour as “complete nonsense”, adding that the Speaker had met whips from other parties too as part of his “open-door policy” ahead of big moments in the Commons.
In highly unusual criticism of Hoyle’s decision as being a break with convention, Tom Goldsmith, the Commons clerk and authority on procedure for the chamber, said: “Long-established principles are not being followed in this case.”
But the Speaker said it was important for the Commons to be able to consider “the widest possible range of options” given the strength of feeling among MPs.
The Labour amendment said an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah, the southern area of Gaza to which more than 1mn people have fled, risked “catastrophic humanitarian consequences”.
It called for an “immediate stop to the fighting and a ceasefire that lasts and is observed by all sides”.
However, the amendment also urged Hamas to release and return all hostages it has held since October 7 and said Israel could not be expected to stop fighting so long as the militant group “continues with violence”.
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