Meeting of the Parliament 14 May 2026 [Draft]
Good afternoon, everyone. I am glad that you are all with us once more. This will be the last voting session of the afternoon, you will be glad to know—before you can all depart the scene.
I have received five valid nominations for the position of Deputy Presiding Officer, and I shall now announce the nominations again in alphabetical order. They are: Clare Adamson, Claire Baker, Miles Briggs, Katy Clark and Stuart McMillan.
The election shall proceed in accordance with rules 11.9 and 3.3 of standing orders, with voting procedures being the same as those used in the election of the Presiding Officer. Members will be voting for only one person at this point. If no candidate receives an overall majority in the first round of voting, there will be subsequent rounds. This procedure will also be followed for the election of the second Deputy Presiding Officer.
When the first Deputy Presiding Officer is elected, voting rounds will begin for the second Deputy Presiding Officer, involving all candidates who were unsuccessful in the election of the first.
Without further ado, we open the voting session. We now proceed to—[Interruption.] I can see you, Lloyd—don’t think I can’t. Steady. Members can now proceed to the appropriate desk to collect their ballot papers.
Members voted by secret ballot.
The Presiding Officer:Voting in this round of the Deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. I invite any scrutineers appointed by the candidates to go to the back of the chamber to observe the counting of ballot papers. Candidates may also observe the count.
As that will take a few minutes, I am delighted to advise members that there is catering in the coffee lounge next door, which includes bars of chocolate, crisps, sandwiches and so on. In the previous session, there were some very unscrupulous individuals who occasionally slipped the odd bar of chocolate or bag of crisps into their pocket—I hope that that will not be revisited in this session. Thank you, all.
In the first round of voting in the election of the Deputy Presiding Officers, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Clare Adamson 46, Claire Baker 16, Miles Briggs 38, Katy Clark 6, Stuart McMillan 17.
As no one has secured a majority, we will proceed to the next round of voting, with Katy Clark having been eliminated.
There will be a short break while new ballot papers are printed.
18:11
Meeting suspended.
18:16
On resuming—
The Presiding Officer:We have new ballot papers. The voting period is therefore reopened, using the same voting procedure as before.
Members voted by secret ballot.
The Presiding Officer:Voting for this round of the Deputy Presiding Officer election is now closed. I invite scrutineers to proceed to the back of the chamber for the count. Candidates may also observe the count.
Colleagues, in this round of voting in the Deputy Presiding Officer election, the number of votes cast for each candidate was as follows: Clare Adamson 58, Claire Baker 22, Miles Briggs 37 and Stuart McMillan 10. As no one has received the required number of votes, Stuart McMillan will drop out and we will move forward to another round of voting with Clare Adamson, Claire Baker and Miles Briggs as the three remaining candidates.
Once again, we will have a brief break while new ballot papers are printed.
18:35
Meeting suspended.
18:40
On resuming—