Totnes MP sponsors bill of no confidence in Speaker of the House as Gaza row intensifies

Totnes MP Anthony Mangnall was one of six MPs to sponsor a motion of no confidence against Speaker of the House Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

In total, 82 Members of Parliament, almost all from either the Scottish National Party (SNP) or the Conservative Party have signed the bill, which was brought forward after Sir Lindsay Hoyle was criticised over his handling of a vote by MPs on calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The row started after the SNP put forward a motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza as one of its three annual opposition days (a session where the third largest party has the chance to set the topic for debate).

The government proposed amendments calling for an "immediate humanitarian pause," while Labour had presented a carefully worded motion supporting a ceasefire but in a manner distinct from the SNP's language.

It was widely expected that scores of Labour MPs would rebel against leader Sir Kier Starmer and vote for the SNP motion.

However, in a break with convention, the speaker opted to vote on Labour’s motion before moving on to the SNP and the government.

Labour won the vote after Leader of the House, Penny Mordaunt, announced that the Tory government would withdraw, saying: “Regrettably, Mr Speaker has inserted himself into the row and undermined the confidence of this house in being able to rely on its long-established standing orders to govern its debates.”

The Speaker’s decision was widely seen as a break with democratic convention and criticised as biased towards Labour, Hoyle’s old party. The Speaker of the House is meant to be an impartial and independent broker of Westminster debates, but critics, including MP Anthony Mangnall argue that his actions were a result of him “siding with the Labour Party”.

Anthony Mangnall said: “I was deeply disappointed that this week the Speaker of the House of Commons decided to ignore the precedent of the House of Commons and the advice of the Head Clerk. In doing so, he overturned the conventions of the House of Commons and broke the protocols that are there to protect Members of Parliament and the very nature of debate that we have in Parliament. In doing so, it appears he sided with the Labour Party further jeopardising his position by ignoring the rules and becoming biased.

“The Speaker of the House of Commons must remain independent. In ignoring impartial advice and siding with the Labour Party during an SNP opposition day debate, he has called into question his impartiality and lost the confidence of many Members of Parliament.

"I am one of those who has lost confidence in him and I am deeply sorry to have reached such a conclusion but the manner in which our Parliamentary democracy operates matters a great deal and sadly I believe his position to be now untenable.”

Sir Lindsay has already apologised for his handling of the issue, justifying his actions on the basis of his concerns about MPs' security, saying: "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"

Sir Lindsay has previously indicated he would allow a fresh debate to go ahead. However, yesterday he backtracked on this, arguing that the debate would not meet the criteria for an emergency debate.