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Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle is being urged to “come clean” about whether Labour tried to influence his handling of a debate on Gaza which descended into chaos.

The SNP said he needs to make a “make a personal statement” detailing all of his meetings and communications with the Labour leadership ahead of yesterday’s motion.

Stephen Flynn, the party’s Westminster leader, told Sky News he believed there was a “stich up” between the Speaker and Labour over the amendments – something Labour has denied.

The Tories have made similar accusations, with health minister Maria Caulfield saying Sir Lindsay needs to “come clean” ahead of a meeting later today with leader of the House Penny Mordaunt and party chief whips.

Sir Lindsay is fighting to save his job as a growing number of MPs call for him to resign.

At the time of writing, 57 MPs have signed a no confidence motion in him.

Politics Live: Speaker clinging on to job

More on Gaza

The row broke out on Wednesday night after he allowed a vote on a Labour amendment to an SNP motion calling for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

Opposition parties are not usually able to amend opposition motions, only the government, so some Tory MPs saw the decision as unfair given Sir Keir Starmer was expected to face a significant rebellion had his party’s amendment not been chosen.

The SNP was also left furious that Labour’s amendment was chosen to be voted on first – leading to accusations Sir Lindsay had allowed the debate to be “hijacked” by Labour and resulting in Conservative and SNP MPs storming out of the chamber.

Health minister Maria Caulfield told Sky News “the rumours are that Labour were going to lose quite heavily and they tried to influence the Speaker with that”.

“He needs to come clean about what discussions were had,” she added.

Labour has denied this and suggested the Tories boycotted the proceedings because they were worried about a rebellion on their own side.

While both Labour and the SNP called for an immediate ceasefire, albeit using different definitions, the government’s amendment called for an “immediate humanitarian pause” in the fighting.

Ms Caulfield accepted last night was “absolutely unedifying” given people in Gaza are dying, but blamed Sir Lindsay for turning an important debate “into a circus”.

She said she was “disappointed and surprised” by his behaviour and that she would “struggle now to support” him.

However she did not go as far as saying he should stand down – noting he had already apologised and will be meeting with cabinet minister Ms Mordant and chief whips of the political parties later today.

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Speaker sorry over ceasefire vote

“Let’s see what happens in the next 24 to 48 hours. He knows he did wrong. He’s apologised, and let’s see what he proposes to fix the situation.”

Gaza vote: What happened in the Commons yesterday – and can the Speaker be sacked?

Commons Speaker facing calls to resign

Last night Labour sources told Sky News that Labour whips told Sir Lindsay – who was a Labour MP before taking on the role of Speaker – that they wouldn’t back him to carry on in his position after the next election if he didn’t pick their party’s amendment.

Shadow cabinet minister Pat McFadden told Sky News it is “not true that any threats implied or otherwise” were made by Labour to the Speaker’s position – and Sir Lindsay is “taking the blame unfairly” for the government’s decision not to participate in the proceedings.

This meant that Labour’s amendment ended up passing unopposed without a formal vote and the SNP were ultimately unable to vote on their own motion.

Advice from the clerk of the House said the decision to select both amendments represented “a departure from the long-established convention for dealing with such amendments on opposition days”.

However the letter said Sir Lindsay ultimately has discretion over what amendments to select.

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Crypto influencers are replacing VCs, and that’s a good thing

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Crypto influencers are replacing VCs, and that’s a good thing

Crypto influencers are replacing VCs, and that’s a good thing

Crypto influencers democratize early-stage investing by offering transparent, accessible opportunities that VCs keep behind closed doors for the elite.

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UK, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand condemn Israel’s plan for new operation in Gaza

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UK joins four countries in condemning Israel's plan for new operation in Gaza

The UK and four allies have criticised Israel’s decision to launch a new large-scale military operation in Gaza – warning it will “aggravate the catastrophic humanitarian situation” in the territory.

The foreign ministers of Britain, Australia, Germany, Italy and New Zealand said in a joint statement that the offensive will “endanger the lives of hostages” and “risk violating international humanitarian law”.

It comes a day after Israel’s security cabinet approved an operation to take military control of Gaza City – and concluded a full takeover of the enclave is required to end the conflict.

It marks another escalation in the war in Gaza, sparked by the Hamas attack of 7 October 2023.

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Can Netanyahu defeat Hamas ideology?

In their joint statement, the UK and its allies said they “strongly reject” the decision, adding: “It will endanger the lives of the hostages and further risk the mass displacement of civilians.

“The plans that the government of Israel has announced risk violating international humanitarian law. Any attempts at annexation or of settlement extension violate international law.”

The countries also called for a permanent ceasefire as “the worst-case scenario of famine is unfolding in Gaza”.

It comes as Sky News analysis has found that airdrops of aid are making little difference to Gaza’s hunger crisis, and pose serious risks to the population – with a father-of-two killed by a falling package.

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Revealed: The dangers of airdrops

Meanwhile, France, Canada, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and the United Nations all criticised Israel’s plan for a full occupation of Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “expressed his disappointment” with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz’s in phone call on Friday after Berlin decided it would stop selling arms to Israel.

In a post on X, the Israeli prime minister’s office added: “Instead of supporting Israel’s just war against Hamas, which carried out the most horrific attack against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, Germany is rewarding Hamas terrorism by embargoing arms to Israel.”

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Inside plane dropping aid over Gaza

US ambassador hits out at Starmer

Earlier on Friday, the US Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, criticised Sir Keir Starmer after he said Israel’s decision to “escalate its offensive” in Gaza is “wrong”.

Mr Huckabee wrote on X: “So Israel is expected to surrender to Hamas & feed them even though Israeli hostages are being starved? Did UK surrender to Nazis and drop food to them? Ever heard of Dresden, PM Starmer? That wasn’t food you dropped. If you had been PM then UK would be speaking German!”

Read more:
Analysis: Israel likely faces an impossible task
How life and colour has been stripped from Gaza

In another post around an hour later Mr Huckabee wrote: “How much food has Starmer and the UK sent to Gaza?

“@IsraeliPM has already sent 2 MILLION TONS into Gaza & none of it even getting to hostages.”

Sir Keir has pledged to recognise a Palestinian state in September unless the Israeli government meets a series of conditions towards ending the war in Gaza.

The UK and its allies criticised Israel as US President JD Vance and UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy met at Chevening House in Kent on Friday.

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Lammy-Vance bromance: Will it last?

Mr Vance described a “disagreement” about how the US and UK could achieve their “common objectives” in the Middle East, and said the Trump administration had “no plans to recognise a Palestinian state”.

He said: “I don’t know what it would mean to really recognise a Palestinian state given the lack of functional government there.”

Mr Vance added: “There’s a lot of common objectives here. There is some, I think, disagreement about how exactly to accomplish those common objectives, but look, it’s a tough situation.”

The UN Security Council will meet on Saturday to discuss the situation in the Middle East.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of the State of Palestine to the United Nations, said earlier on Friday that a number of countries would be requesting a meeting of the UN Security Council on Israel’s plans.

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BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be ‘messed up’ — Analyst

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<div>BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be 'messed up' — Analyst</div>

<div>BlackRock launching a SOL ETF in first wave would be 'messed up' — Analyst</div>

BlackRock hasn’t filed for a Solana ETF, but ETF analyst James Seyffart says they shouldn’t be allowed to jump in at the last minute after other issuers’ hard work.

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