If Lindsay Hoyle has nothing to hide, he should release his emails

The National

5 days ago

LINDSAY Hoyle, the Speaker of the House of Commons, is no stranger to controversy. In February 2024, he broke with Commons convention to effectively block a debate on a scheduled SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza. Allegedly he gave in to threats from Keir Starmer, then leader of the Opposition, who feared a significant rebellion amongst his back bench MPs just a couple of months away from a likely general election.
It was alleged, but denied by both Hoyle and Starmer, that during a private and off the record meeting between the pair prior to the debate, Starmer had threatened Hoyle with the withdrawal of Labour support for Hoyle in the election for Speaker unless Hoyle blocked what could be a politically damaging debate for Starmer.
Following that meeting, Hoyle broke with convention and decided to allow a Labour amendment to an SNP motion on Gaza to go to a vote, effectively denying the SNP the chance to vote on their own motion. [[SNP]] MPs then walked out of the Chamber in protest, and the [[SNP]] Westminster leader Stephen Flynn said that he and his MPs had lost confidence in the Speaker.
READ MORE: Westminster denies Lindsay Hoyle 'personally intervened' on secret Israeli emails
Hoyle later claimed that he had done so out of concern for the safety of MPs, an explanation which convinced no one. A furious Flynn later told the BBC that the Speaker had effectively lied to the Commons and that Hoyle's impartiality was now in question. A motion demanding Hoyle's resignation later amassed the signatures of 81 MPs.
Now, Hoyle again finds himself at the centre of a row concerning Gaza. Hoyle allegedly intervened to block the release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians, though the House of Commons has since denied claims the Speaker personally stepped in. Responding to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request lodged by Declassified UK, the UK Government said Hoyle was the individual who had chosen not to release the written correspondence since October 2023 between himself and the Israeli Embassy, Labour Friends of Israel and members or officials of the Knesset, the Israeli legislature.
The response said that Hoyle "has formed the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs". The main prejudice the release would be likely to cause would be to the already tattered confidence in Hoyle's impartiality. If there was nothing of concern in the emails, why not release them?
Hoyle previously visited Israel in November 2023 for a 'solidarity visit'. He has not displayed much interest in solidarity with the people of Gaza who are currently being starved to death in a man-made famine. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu could decide right now that all Palestinian children in Gaza should get a full meal tomorrow and it would happen. The necessary aid is just a few kilometres away from where it is desperately needed, but Netanyahu and his cabinet of religious extremists refuse to allow aid trucks to enter Gaza in any sufficient numbers necessary to avert a famine.
Instead, in a sop to the man child in the White House, he has agreed to the televisually appealing but woefully inadequate airdropping of limited aid into the territory. Airdrops can never come close to supplying the quantity of aid which is required. Wind gusts being what they are, some of the aid launched out of the back of military cargo flights ends up in the sea where desperate and starving Palestinians risk being fired upon by Israeli gun boats as they attempt to retrieve bags of flour soaked in salt water.
Dropping aid from aircraft is potentially dangerous, one man in Gaza told the BBC: "When aid is dropped from the air, it risks landing directly on tents, potentially causing serious harm, including injury or even death."
While acknowledging that even a little aid is better than none, aid organisations harbour no illusions about the air drop campaign. Ciarán Donnelly of the International Rescue Committee told the BBC: 'Aid drops are a grotesque distraction from the reality of what's needed on the ground in Gaza right now. They can never deliver the volume, the consistency or the quality of aid and services that's needed.'
READ MORE: Palestine Action protest to go ahead with more than 500 people, organisers say
Videos of pallets of aid being parachuted out of aircraft might look good on TV, and allow the likes of Starmer to claim that something is being done, but it can never come remotely close to delivering the quantity of aid that is needed. In fact, it's a literal drop in the ocean.
John Curtice weighs in on independence plans
Polling expert John Curtice has given his opinion on First Minister John Swinney's plan to achieve independence, which rests upon the [[SNP]] winning a majority at Holyrood at the next Scottish elections. Given the current state of play of opinion polling, Curtice believes that it is "most extremely unlikely" that the [[SNP]] can win a majority of seats at [[Holyrood]] in May next year.
Speaking at The Herald's Unspun Live at the Fringe, Curtice said: "What is he [John Swinney] doing? He is saying to people: if you want independence, vote SNP. Do not vote for Alba, do not vote for the Greens.
'He does not want there to be a fragmented list vote. He wants people to vote for the SNP. The challenge facing the SNP – the thing that has not changed in Scottish politics despite the turbulence of the last two and a half years – is support for independence.
'We are still around 50/50 on the independence question.'
Curtice still believes that it is most likely that the SNP will be the largest party by a considerable margin, but it will have to reach an agreement with another party, most likely the Scottish Greens, in order to form a government.
Labour's position is looking difficult, although not as difficult as that of the Tories, who face potential decimation at the hands of Reform, whom Curtice expects to win more than ten seats in Holyrood.