What did Lindsay Hoyle do? Speaker of the House accused of "party politics" over Labour's Gaza ceasefire vote

The House of Commons debate descended into pandemonium as Speaker Lindsay Hoyle broke convention on Wednesday, February 21, and allowed a Labour Party amendment to be voted on on a day designated for the Scottish National Party (SNP) motion.

On Wednesday, the SNP chose to debate the Israel-Gaza conflict, wanting to lay down their motion for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza. But Hoyle made the unprecedented decision to allow the Labour amendment over the SNP motion for an "immediate humanitarian ceasefire" to be put forward. This was unheard of before due to the parliament convention, which stated an opposition party's motion cannot be amended by another opposition party but only by the government.

Lindsay Hoyle's decision to allow both the Labour amendment and the government amendment to be voted on compelled the Tory and SNP MPs to accuse the speaker of playing "party politics" as a former Labour MP, causing a major walkout mid-debate.

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Speaker Lindsay Hoyle's decision caused chaos in the Commons over Gaza ceasefire vote

According to Sky News, the SNP, as the third largest party in the Commons, is allowed three opposition days, which gives them the upper hand to pick a topic to be debated. Wednesday was one such day, and the SNP chose to vote on their motion for an "immediate ceasefire" in Gaza to end the "collective punishment of the Palestinian people," a position they held for a long time.

Sir Keir Starmer, the Labour Party's leader, has previously declined to call for a ceasefire, sparking an in-party rebellion. In November, 56 of his MPs, including 10 frontbenchers, went against him to back the SNP motion for a ceasefire.

As per the BBC, this led Starmer to formulate a decision to table an amendment that backed an "immediate humanitarian pause" but not a "ceasefire," stating that Israel "cannot be expected to cease fighting if Hamas continues with violence." This came in the wake of Starmer trying to avoid a potential rebellion if his MPs decided to back the SNP motion in a repeat of the November revolt.

As the debate started, Speaker Lindsay Hoyle decided that he would allow for both the government and Labour amendments to the SNP motion to be voted on, claiming that it would give the MPs an oversight to vote from "the widest range of propositions."

Following his decision, Lindsay Hoyle was accused of playing "party politics" and making an "overtly political decision" to help Starmer avoid a rebellion from his MPs, Sky News reported.

This caused Penny Mordaunt, Tory Leader of the House, to pull the government's amendment from the debate and decline to vote, claiming her party would "play no further part" in the proceeding. With the government's amendment in the wind, the Labour amendment was able to pass without a vote.

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Lindsay Hoyle apologises in the face of calls for resignation

According to the BBC, SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn accused Speaker Lindsay Hoyle of colluding with Labour leader Starmer to "block Parliament voting on the SNP motion."

Following calls for his resignation, Lindsay Hoyle apologized for his unprecedented decision in the House of Commons, saying:

“It is clear that today did not show the house at its best. I will reflect on my part in that of course. I have tried to do what I thought was the right thing for all sides of this House. It is regrettable, and I apologise, that the decision didn’t end up in the place that I wished.”

Over 56 Tory and SNP MPs have signed a motion declaring they have no confidence in Lindsay Hoyle. While there is no precedence for MPs to oust a Speaker from the Commons, it is a convention that the Speaker should have the confidence of the main parties.