Mhairi Black claims Gaza vote was Westminster 'at its worst' as ex-MP accuses Speaker of being 'blatantly political'

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Mhairi Black has slammed a "blatantly political" decision by the Commons Speaker during a vote on Gaza and claimed it showed Westminster "at its worst".The former SNP MP for Paisley and Renfrewshire South tore into the archaic procedures used in the House of Commons during her debut show at the Edinburgh Fringe.And she hit out at Lindsay Hoyle following chaotic scenes in Parliament earlier this year during a debate calling for a ceasefire in Gaza.The Speaker faced calls to resign in February after he broke with convention to allow a vote on a motion put forward by Labour.The move meant Labour MPs could call for a ceasefire without backing a differently-worded motion put forward by the SNP - avoiding a widely-expected rebellion in Keir Starmer's party.Speaking at the Gilded Ballon venue in Edinburgh today, Black said: "There was one time we were debating Gaza.

It wasn't that long ago. But very quickly the Speaker made it all about Parliament. As he broke the rules, he changes the rules at the last second."I don't care what anyone says, it was blatantly political.

But he did it, and he buggered off and let his deputies deal with the fall-out."I thought I had seen Parliament at its worst during Brexit.

But this was 10x worse. It was just chaos."Hoyle said at the time he wanted to give MPs the chance to vote on "the widest range of propositions," and was also concerned about threats to MPs' security over the issue.But he was accused of allowing the vote to be "hijacked" by Labour with SNP MPs walking out in protest.Black also got a laugh from the sold-out audience when she explained how an incident with a melted Kit-Kat in her jacket pocket led to accusations she had taken cocaine in the Commons.The then MP had opened the