Labour On the Right Side of History

When it should be on the left

Where we are

Anyone familiar with the shambolic goings on in the House of Commons in London, UK — on Wednesday 21 February, will be aware that the Labour Party are claiming a victory of sorts in that they presented a ceasefire motion and won the motion. Unfortunately there was no opposition so, even as gestures go, it was a hollow victory. Furthermore it was a deceitful victory following the strong-arming of the Speaker of the House, Lindsay Hoyle, by Keir Starmer, Labour leader.

It was an Opposition Day motion session where the Scottish Nationalist Party (SNP) should have had the floor. According to protocol their motion would be heard and the government would be given the opportunity to present amendments. It wouldn’t be binding if passed and wasn’t expected to pass anyway. However it would be a test to see which MPs are seeking a ceasefire in Gaza and which are not.

Labour submitted their own amendments which, ordinarily, wouldn’t have been heard except the house speaker broke protocol and allowed both the Labour & SNP motions to be debated which meant Labour would go first and the SNP would likely run out of time before presenting theirs. This caused uproar, seeing both SNP and Tory MP’s storm out of the chamber allowing Labour their pyrrhic…