KEIR Starmer has admitted that he had a meeting with the Speaker on Wednesday and that he “urged” the Speaker to allow the Labour amendment on Gaza. The Labour Chief Whip was also present, and according to Ian Murray on Radio Scotland today, the meeting lasted about 40 seconds.
Some man – he can enter the room, speak to the Speaker and “urge” him, and leave, all within 40 seconds.
Both Starmer and the Speaker have questions to answer. Labour have had at least eight Opposition Days since the last SNP day and Gaza was not raised once. But lo and behold, along comes the SNP day and Starmer, fearing the embarrassment of MPs voting for the SNP motion, was determined to find a way to avoid this.
READ MORE: Speaker's Gaza motion row on par with 'Boris Johnson illegally proroguing Parliament'
There is also the question of the Labour motion being passed unanimously. This is not correct. The ayes were loud, so were the noes – this can be viewed. Even Rees-Mogg stood up immediately after the Deputy Speaker said “the ayes have it” and said this was not correct and that it should have gone to a division.
Having another Opposition Day or debate does not undo what has happened – the vote should be voided and the SNP motion put, followed by the Labour motion, in the hope that this might repair some of the damage done.
The position of the Speaker at the moment is untenable and this is directly due to Keir Starmer’s “urging” of the Speaker. It also calls into question his leadership and morality. He is more concerned about the optics of supporting the SNP motion in an election year, as David Lammy has admitted, and a revolt from his MPs.
Winifred McCartney
Paisley
The SNP are not doing much good at Westminster, we often hear – not surprisingly, perhaps, because the Westminster Parliament is not fit for purpose. But perhaps on Wednesday the SNP, even if inadvertently, exposed its undemocratic, unprincipled, and amoral nature.
By using one of its limited allocated days to put forward an important motion for consideration by that parliament on the genocide now taking place in Gaza, the SNP opened a can of worms.
READ MORE: SNP demand investigation into Speaker's conduct over Gaza motion
First the Labour Party wanted to get in on the act to prevent further exposure of their leadership’s appalling record on this issue, so they threatened the Speaker of the House to break with precedent and allow them to get their new motion heard on the SNP’s allotted day.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle broke the parliament’s “long-established convention” and caved in to the Labour leadership. Having made that controversial decision, he courageously slunk off and left one of the Deputy Speakers to take the flack.
The Tories, who had the majority of the members present, did not want this motion to get a full hearing, they did not want any decision taken on this because their own party was split wide open on the issue. So they refused to take part.
READ MORE: MPs sign no confidence motion in Speaker - see the full list
Finally, no vote was taken, just a declaration by the Deputy Speaker that “the ayes have it” on the long Labour motion which, although calling for a ceasefire, is open to wide interpretation, and is not binding on the government.
While most people in the UK will be disgusted by this display, it suits the two big parties because it allows them to continue to support whatever the US tells them to do on this issue.
Andy Anderson
Ardrossan
SO the honourable Knight of the Realm Sir Lindsay Hoyle was more concerned about the security of the Labour Party Westminster members, their families and everyone else involved in his decision to allow the Labour Party to speak on their amendment at the expense of the SNP motion on the situation in Gaza.
Well bully for him. Apparently his decision was dependent on himself remaining the Speaker in the event of a Labour government. Never mind the almost 300,000 dead Palestinians and several hundred thousand women and children injured, some with life-changing injuries, from Israeli bombs and bullets.
READ MORE: Owen Jones: Labour's behaviour reveals the brutal truth about British politics
To hear and read the comments made at the time Hoyle created the parliamentary chaos, which led to all the SNP members walking out of the chamber accompanied by a good many Tory and other MPs, this has to be a significant moment! It is interesting reading about the Deputy Speaker Rosie Winterton declaring that the “ayes have it”. Apparently she said that she “put the question but no-one called against it”. According to Rees-Mogg, the noise level during the chaotic disarray would have made it difficult to hear anyone saying “aye”.
To make matters worse was the fact that the Palestinian Ambassador to the UK, Husam Zomlot, saw the whole episode and said in an interview with Channel 4 that the whole episode had been a “disgraceful and shameful day”.
To think that there are voters in Scotland who will still vote for the Westminster Labour Party via the Scottish branch, and that the Scottish Government will continue on its day-to-day business with no mention of an independence escape route from the Westminster carnage, just beggars belief.
Alan Magnus-Bennett
Fife
ON Wednesday night we had an outrageous example of overpaid but badly behaved juveniles, many of whom will be cheeky or stupid enough to ask for our vote in elections later this year.
Instead of pretending that the so-called “mother of parliaments” was an example of democracy to follow, they defecated on the 30,000 civilians murdered in Gaza, including those killed by weapons made in the UK.
All candidates for Westminster should be asked to justify themselves and their shameful behaviour if they dare to canvass.
Norman Lockhart
Innerleithen
WE now need to know just how much money the Labour Party and its MPs receive, directly or indirectly, from Israel.
M Ross
via email
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