Lindsay Hoyle urged to release secret Israeli emails
The investigative outlet had requested copies of all written correspondence since October 1, 2023 between him and the Israeli Embassy, Labour Friends of Israel and members or officials of the Knesset.
READ MORE: Scottish Labour disown fake Anas Sarwar quote on lawyer's website
In response, the Commons said that the Speaker had blocked its release because he had 'formed the reasonable opinion that disclosure of the information would be likely to prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs'.
It came after Hoyle flew to Israel in November 2023, after the country had already been accused of committing war crimes in Gaza, on a 'solidarity trip'.
Now, Scottish Greens co-leader Patrick Harvie (below) has said that the Speaker's dealings with foreign states such as Israel 'must be conducted with full transparency'.
(Image: Andrew Milligan)
He told The National: 'We have witnessed 22 months of genocide in Gaza, tens of thousands of innocent lives lost, entire generations of families have been wiped out, and now Gaza has the highest rate of child amputees globally.
'People are being displaced repeatedly, they are being starved, the meagre aid provided is being weaponised against them, and still, there is no end in sight. Some of the most horrific war crimes in recent history are still being live streamed by the perpetrators.
READ MORE: Lindsay Hoyle blocks release of emails he sent to Israeli politicians
'For Lindsay Hoyle to undertake a so-called 'solidarity visit' in these circumstances is deplorable, and the fact he now wants to keep his correspondence private suggests that he knows this should never have happened in the first place.'
Hoyle came close to losing his job early last year, after he bent parliamentary procedure to help Keir Starmer dodge a potentially embarrassing backbench rebellion when the SNP forced a vote on a [[Gaza]] ceasefire.
The House of Commons previously denied that Hoyle had 'personally' intervened to block the correspondence and was approached for further comment.
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