Lindsay Hoyle looks safe – for now

The dust is settling in the House of Commons after an explosive evening in the Chamber on Wednesday night. Speaker Lindsay Hoyle’s decision to upend tradition and allow a Labour amendment to an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza saw both Conservative and Scottish National party MPs turn on Hoyle. The Speaker has since been accused of playing favourites by helping his old party out of a jam; had the Labour amendment not been permitted, Keir Starmer would have likely faced a large rebellion and even some front bench resignations.

Hoyle is now facing calls to resign. So far, over 50 SNP and Tory MPs have signed a motion of no confidence in the Speaker. The SNP’s Westminster leader Stephen Flynn has said he has expressed privately to Hoyle that he and his SNP colleagues ‘do not have confidence’ in his ability to stay in post after they were denied ‘the ability to vote on a matter which is of grave concern to us’.