Why is Lindsay Hoyle not speaker at the Budget – and who is Eleanor Laing?

Some have wondered where the recently embattled speaker was during Jeremy Hunt’s Budget statement

Speaker of the Commons Sir Lindsay Hoyle did not preside over Jeremy Hunt’s 2024 spring Budget statement, with less-familar face Dame Eleanor Laing taking his place instead.

Sir Hoyle had recently faced calls for his resignation following his unprecedented decision to allow a vote on a Labour amendment to an opposition day motion on the Gaza conflict.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle apologised for his ‘mistake’ during Wednesday’s SNP Opposition Day debate (UK Parliament/Jessica Taylor/PA) (PA Media)

However, Sir Lindsay’s absence at the Budget statement is not due to this fall out, nor is it unusual.

Traditionally, any Budget statement will not be lead by the speaker, but rather one specific deputy: the Chairman of Ways and Means.

Dame Eleanor Laing in Commons, 2020 (PA Wire)

The current holder of this postion is Dame Eleanor, who was appointed to the role in 2020, after becoming a deputy speaker in 2013.

Before becoming a deputy speaker, Dame Eleanor was a Conservative MP for Epping Forest, first elected in 1997. She still represents the East London constituency as an independent MP, as is traditional for speakers and deputy speakers.

Several Conservative and SNP MPs called for Sir Lindsay’s resignation following the Gaza vote, with 93 signing a letter of no confidence in the speaker.

Sir Lindsay issued an apology following the vote, saying “I have tried to do what I thought was the right thing for all sides of this House”.

“It is regrettable, and I apologise, that the decision didn’t end up in the place that I wished.”

He went on to partly justify his actions, arguing it was necessary for the safety of MPs on an issue that has drawn severe political divisions in the UK.