London, Thanasis Gavos

With rare acrimony and angry rebuttals between MPs, a debate in the British House of Commons took place throughout the afternoon on a proposal to support a ceasefire in Gaza.

The unprecedented scenes, culminating in the temporary withdrawal from the chamber of MPs of the ruling Conservative Party and the Scottish National Party (SNP), were not about the substance of the debate but the process, with a stone of “scandal” coming from the Labor Party president of the body of Sir Lindsay Hoyle.

The debate was about a proposal by the SNP for the legislature to back an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, as opposed to the official government position of a “sustainable ceasefire” with conditions.

The SNP was able to secure a debate and vote on its proposal under what is known as an “opposition day”, when the agenda of the plenary meeting is handed over to an opposition party.

Labor amended the motion calling for an “immediate humanitarian ceasefire”, a slightly different position from the SNP’s original proposal. Then, however, Rishi Sunak’s government also submitted an amendment, again proposing a “ceasefire” with conditions, such as the release of the hostages from Hamas.

The unwritten rule of such a procedure states that MPs are called to vote only on an amendment submitted by the government and not on amendments by other opposition parties.

Sir Lindsay, however, decided to allow the Labor amendment to be voted on as a matter of priority.

The Conservative Party accused the Speaker of the House of Commons of bowing to pressure from Labor and of breaching his neutrality by getting caught up in party infighting.

As political commentators point out, by allowing a vote on Labour’s amendment Sir Lindsay freed party leader Keir Starmer from the risk of a mass mutiny, as he had barred his MPs from supporting the SNP’s original proposal.

In an unprecedented move, Sir Lindsay issued a statement at the end of the proceedings apologizing from his seat for the upset his decision had caused.

As he explained, he made the controversial move to protect MPs of all parties who have brought to his attention threats from citizens over the major parties’ so far avoiding support for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

He said he wanted to give all MPs the opportunity to support any proposal they wished from the widest possible range of options.

While the government accepted the speaker’s apology in principle, SNP leader Stephen Flynn did not, saying that today’s “opposition day” was effectively given by Sir Lindsay to Labour. Mr Flynn even directly questioned whether the Speaker of the House of Commons can remain in his post.

In the end, Labour’s truce amendment passed by acclamation, a result that was strongly disputed by Conservative MPs who said they were absent from the room.

On the other hand, some Labor MPs argued that by approving their party’s amendment, even without a vote, the government had lost control of its foreign policy, a matter of public concern and should lead to an early election.