Election of Speaker

Gavin Robinson Excerpts

Tuesday 9th July 2024 Commons Chamber

[Gavin Robinson (Belfast East) (DUP)]

Congratulations, Mr Speaker-Elect. We are thrilled to see you back in the Chair. Some new Members of Parliament who have yet to understand just how this place works will learn through time that my hon. Friend the Member for Strangford (Jim Shannon) needed no further encouragement. While the reference was appreciated, no doubt, by his mother and others, Members will see the consequences.

We have all survived, and some of us even enjoyed an energetic election campaign. All of us will have experienced the odd one who approached us and said, “I’m not voting for you.” I had my fair share, and there is no surprise in that. But in the Guildhall Square in Londonderry— somewhere I would not expect to get too many votes—this man came up and said, “I’m not voting for you; I’m voting for Lindsay Hoyle.” He was a Chorley man, and he impressed upon me the constituency grounding you have, your commitment to the community, and the length of service you have given him, his neighbours and your neighbours. He impressed upon me how fondly you are thought of within your home constituency.

I, in turn, was able to reflect to him how you have risen within the office you hold; how over the last number of years we have seen just how important it is to have a true champion of Back-Bench representatives in Parliament. You have given us that. It was a pleasure for me to reflect to him, and to you and the House today, just how fond we are of you. You bring solemnity to the office you hold, but you never lose the steadfast and chirpy nature of your Lancashire roots. Thank you for putting yourself forward and for being prepared to serve us—this House and democracy—in this way. On behalf of my party colleagues and, I trust, those others representing Northern Ireland constituents, I wish you well and thank you for it.

[Mr Speaker-Elect]

I call the leader of Reform UK.