I don't think we have seen such stormy scenes in Parliament as we did on Wednesday since 2019. Whilst I was closeted upstairs in a Committee Room for much of the afternoon, so missed most of the drama, it was a very febrile atmosphere, and colleagues across the political spectrum were very angry.
Don't get me wrong, I like Lindsay Hoyle, he is a decent man who has been doing an incredibly difficult job restoring trust in the Speaker since the days of Speaker Bercow. Not to mention he had the good sense some 40 years ago to send his daughter to school in Romsey! But Wednesday was disgraceful, and effectively handing an SNP motion to the Labour Party smacked of a partisan Speaker which is just wrong. I have never thought of Lindsay as that, and I very much hope he took the decision he did, against advice, for good reasons.
Meanwhile we had a useful session of the Select Committee on sexual harassment in the emergency services, and particularly from the Police it felt as if they was a real determination to tackle the issues that have led to such a loss of confidence in the Met. That is progress, but much acknowledgment that there is a long way to go.
I also spoke this week in the Petitions Committee debate on non animal methods of testing. There has been so much progress since the last 2012 legislation on this that it really feels there is scope for a change. About 4 million animals are still used in tests for medicines in the UK every year, it is too many, and in many instances the new alternatives are more accurate and to be blunt, just better. There was a real pitch from former DEFRA Minister George Eustace to make sure the issue fell under the remit of his former department, where there are vets who can assess animal welfare better than any other Government Department. He also advocated a levy on animal testing, per animal, which would undoubtedly concentrate minds and budgets in favour of alternatives.
