Five Labour MPs in race for deputy speakership

By Alex Smith / @alexsmith1982

UPDATE: Congratulations to Dawn Primarolo and Lindsay Hoyle, who have both been elected, alongside Tory MP Nigel Evans.

Five Labour MPs are today vying for the chance to be one of the first deputy speakers elected by the commons.

Tom Clarke, George Howarth, Lindsay Hoyle, Dawn Primarolo and Marsha Singh are all standing in the Single Transferable Vote ballot that will decide the names of the three new deputy speakers.

As the current Speaker is a former Conservative, two of the three deputy speaker posts are reserved for opposition members – meaning that each of the five Labour candidates are in with a good chance of being elected.

Unlike the Speaker, a deputy speaker remains a member of their own party, and campaigns for election as normal. One of the deputy speakers elected today will have their first opportunity to chair a significant House of Commons event on the June 22nd – the speaker by tradition does not chair budget debates, emergency or otherwise.