Yahoo News 'You need staying power' - Lindsay Hoyle namechecks Chorley and cracks joke about past Prime Ministers as he is re-elected as Commons Speaker
Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle thanked his Chorley constituents in his first speech to a new look House of Commons.
Today (July 9) new MPs arrived to Parliament to be sworn in as new representatives of their constituents, as a result of the UK General Election on July 4. A record 335 new MPs are to be inducted this week, as Labour claimed a landslide victory from the Conservative Party and Sir Keir Starmer was given his new role as the Prime Minister.
As the country welcomes new representatives for their area, one MP was re-elected in Chorley - Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Not only does he represent Chorley, but the politician is also the Speaker of the House, a title he has held since the last election in 2019.
If the incumbent speaker wishes to return to the Commons, they remain in the position when a new government is sworn in. As Hoyle wished to remain in the role, his first speech to a brand new Commons took place today, where he thanked the constituents of Chorley straight away.
Addressing the room, he said: "Firstly I would like to thank my constituents of Chorley for returning me to this House and allowing me to put myself forward again as Speaker. It is an honour to serve the people of Chorley, as I have done steadfastly for the last 44 years as a councillor on that local authority and then their Member of Parliament for the last 27 years.
"It was of course an honour to represent this House at the lying in state of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, to present the address to the new King in Westminster Hall, to attend his coronation.
“Needless to say in this role you need staying power. I’ve already been the speaker during the tenure of three prime ministers, two monarchs and one Jim Shannon.”
Sir Lindsay said he would continue to be “fair, impartial and independent” as speaker if re-elected by MPs. Putting himself forward for the role again, Sir Lindsay said it was an “honour” to serve his constituents in Chorley and also remembered his father Doug, who died in April.
He told the Commons: “It’s been an absolute privilege to serve this House as the 158th speaker. I’ve got to say that four and a half years have flown. With the authority of the chair comes great responsibility, which is something that I’ve never taken lightly or for granted. I know from experience that decisions have consequences, but with experience comes wisdom and if re-elected I will be guided by that as I continue to be fair, impartial and independent.”
Labour MP Cat Smith (Lancaster and Wyre) proposed Sir Lindsay to the role and said he would be a Speaker “who champions the voices of his backbenchers”.
She said: “Our speaker is fair, impartial, and independent. Newly-elected members will find a great friend in our speaker, I know I have. So despite being annoyingly right about many things – which is a good Lancashire trait by the way – he will ensure that your door is open to all members at times of need, and I can vouch that he does a good brew, Yorkshire tea though.”
After MPs approved the motion to elect Sir Lindsay, he was dragged to the Speaker’s chair by Ms Smith and Tory former minister Sir David Davis. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer said: “Mr Speaker-elect you preside over a new Parliament, the most diverse Parliament by race and gender this country has ever seen.
“And I’m proud of the part that my party has played, proud of the part that every party has played in that. Including, in this intake, the largest cohort of LGBT+ MPs of any parliament in the world.
“And given all that diversity, Mr Speaker-elect, I hope you will not begrudge me for a slight departure from convention to also pay tribute to the new Mother of the House, Diane Abbott who has done so much in her career over so many years to fight for a parliament that truly represents modern Britain. We welcome her back to her place.”
Rishi Sunak, in his first speech as Opposition leader, also offered his congratulations to Ms Abbott and described her as a “trailblazer”. The Conservative Party leader added on Sir Lindsay: “The last few years in this House have been, at times, difficult and you have always brought this House together.”
He added: “It is a privilege to be in this House, our democracy is powerful and, as we have witnessed, it can be definitive. But I know that this House will, true to its best traditions, hold the executive to account and I know that Mr Speaker-elect will facilitate that.”
SNP Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said: “I think it’s safe to say that me and you didn’t always see eye to eye during the course of the last parliament but in politics and in life, I think it’s important to let bygones be bygones and to focus on the future.”
