After a busy recess, it was good to get back to Westminster. Wednesday’s debate has been much reported so I thought I would give you my take on it before mentioning some of the other important votes and debates that I was in.
There are 20 opposition debates in a Parliamentary year and the SNP has three of them. One of those was on Wednesday and they originally had two debates tabled but so many people wanted to speak in the first one on a ceasefire in Gaza that they withdrew the second. This meant that the debate should have started at 1pm and finished at 7pm. It started late due to a 10 Minute rule bill proposed by Therese Coffey - unusually opposed by Chris Bryant to prolong the wait for the debate - while the Speaker was working with the Labour leaders and clerks to sort out the amendments for the main Gaza debate. Labour then spent ages in the lobbies to prolong this further giving the Speaker an extra 30 minutes. When he returned, he decided to include two amendments instead of the customary one. This meant that the SNP motion would be voted on second rather than first - the usual way. It was infuriating for the SNP as it meant that its motion would probably not be voted on and it was different from the others as it did not include any reference to the atrocity that Hamas inflicted on Israel. The Clerk, who gives procedural advice, did not agree with the Speaker and wrote a letter as to why in the House of Commons Library.
We then had five hours of impassioned speeches on Gaza and why we need a ceasefire and no attack on Rafah. You can read the whole debate here: Ceasefire in Gaza - Hansard - UK Parliament
Around 6.10pm, the Leader of the House, requested a point of order and said that the Government was no longer taking part in the debate because it was not in accordance with an opposition day debate and standing orders had been broken. We had hoped that this would mean that the SNP vote would be taken first but that appeared not to be the case. After some more discussion, the SNP walked out and so did many of our MPs in solidarity. The debate had been hijacked by the Labour Party. MPs then returned to hear more points of order followed by a request to meet in private. This was in the hope that the motion would fall at 7pm and there would not be a vote that day with the prospect of a vote another day. We spent 20 minutes in the lobbies until after 7pm. This did not work as the Deputy Speaker called the vote quickly but refused to agree that many people had shouted no and it went through with no recorded vote. This was totally unacceptable. There was a big shout of no and I am sure you will have seen it on the news. It meant that we were not able to register our vote so I hope that it will be debated again. I would have voted for an immediate ceasefire on both sides, release of the hostages and humanitarian aid brought in. In a nutshell, Hamas needs to lay down its weapons and be brought to account for the October 7th atrocities and Israel needs to stop fighting. Sadly, I fear that neither warring side is prepared for peace although there are signs that this might be changing.
In the background to all this is the issue about MPs safety. You will have seen the protest outside Tobias Ellwood’s home last week. Many of my colleagues’ offices have been graffitied or had windows broken over the years, not just over Gaza. MPs do not feel safe particularly after the murder of two of us recently, Jo Cox and David Amess. I suspect that was in the Speaker’s mind, but he should have followed Parliamentary procedure. I think he was pushed into this decision by the Labour leader so he could avoid division within his own party on Gaza.
On other matters this week. On Monday I put my name to an amendment in the Offshore Petroleum Licensing Bill to stop flaring and methane release on any new oil and gas platforms in the North Sea. This was withdrawn following the promise that it would be looked at in the House of Lords so I will continue to monitor it.
On Tuesday I held a Westminster Hall debate on my Register of Not in School Children so it had been properly debated before I presented my Bill on 15th March. I was grateful to see Sir Christopher Chope in the chair so he could hear what the Bill is about as he often objects to Private Members Bills. I was pleased to hear the Minister agreeing to work with me on it. You can read my debate here: Register of Children not in School - Hansard - UK Parliament
I have decided to give up my seat on the Public Accounts Committee as I am finding the time it takes too onerous with my Private Members Bill and various local issues that I would like to spend more time concentrating on. One of those is the new hospital and I was pleased to see so many people turning out in Bishops Waltham to listen to consultants and experts on the reasons for the new hospital and what the services will look like. Most people will not notice as most treatments will still be at Winchester but if you need an emergency operation, it will be the place to go as all the experts will be in one place. Transport was brought up by some people and this is something that I have been talking about with the Hampshire Hospital Trust for some time. I am campaigning for a shuttle bus between the hospital/bus station which will be at cost (free would be better) between the hospitals. Maternity was also mentioned and I think some further work needs to be done on this as it must be a safe unit for mothers and babies. The new hospital will have a Level 2 special care baby unit. This actually means that very early babies will no longer have to be transferred to other hospitals such as Southampton or Bristol. There is still a lot of detail to iron out but please put in your choice of Junction 7 as many Basingstoke people may be opting for the existing Basingstoke site and that would be terrible for us.
Sorry about the longer newsletter but I thought you might want to hear about the debate on Wednesday. I am out campaigning over the weekend.
