Uk politics: Sunak ‘concerned’ over Hoyle’s rule change but gives credit over speaker’s apology – as it happened

5.25pm GMT

Afternoon summary

• The SNP MP David Linden has claimed that Sir Lindsay Hoyle will have resigned by the weekend. He made the prediction in an interview with the PM programme, hours after Stephen Flynn, the SNP leader at Westminster, said his party, the third largest in the Commons, has collective lost confidence in the speaker. (See 12.43pm.) An early day motion expressing no confidence in Hoyle has now been signed by 67 MPs. But government ministers have been more eager to blame Labour for what happened last night, and Rishi Sunak has said that, while what happened was “very concerning”, Hoyle should get credit for his apology. Sunak implied he was not pushing for Hoyle’s removal. (See 4.28pm.)

"The position of the speaker is untenable... By the time we get to the weekend, he will be gone."

SNP MP David Linden tells #BBCPM that Sir Lindsay Hoyle turned the Commons into 'an absolute farce' and that 'he has got to go'. pic.twitter.com/DaT5ePWzu6

— BBC Radio 4 PM (@BBCPM) February 22, 2024

• The Labour MP Stella Creasy has said there is no justification for MPs to be targeted in their homes and that public life is “drowning in hate and violence”.

• Ministers have vowed to press ahead with legislation to automatically overturn convictions related to the Post Office Horizon scandal by the end of July.

• Vaughan Gething’s campaign to become the new Welsh first minister has had a setback after it emerged that he accepted a £200,000 donation from a company run by a man convicted of environmental offences.

• The US, UK and Germany have endorsed the candidacy of the Dutch prime minister, Mark Rutte, to become the next secretary general of Nato.

Keir Starmer and shadow work and pensions secretary Liz Kendall during a visit to Siemens Traincare in Three Bridges, Crawley, West Sussex, earlier today. Photograph: Jordan Pettitt/PA

Updated at 5.30pm GMT

5.03pm GMT

Gove refuses to criticise Hoyle over his Gaza vote decision, saying 'you've got to respect the ref'

Michael Gove, the levelling up secretary, has refused to criticise Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons speaker, for his decision to allow a vote on Labour’s amendment in the Gaza ceasefire debate yesterday. Echoing the approach taken by his cabinet colleague Penny Mordaunt (see 11.48am), Gove instead claimed Labour was to blame for the events that led to the debate ending in chaos and acrimony.

In an interview with the Sun, Gove said:

I don’t think this issue is really about the speaker.

If you’re a government minister like me, you’ve got to respect the ref – even if you disagree with his decisions.

I like Lindsay …

The thing I regret is that Keir Starmer is allowing himself and the Labour party to be dictated by fear and intimidation.

Michael Gove. Photograph: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock

Updated at 5.12pm GMT