New Commons Speaker to be elected on November 4
Current Speaker John Bercow, who has been in place since 22 June 2009, will also step down as an MP.
The election of the next Speaker of the House of Commons will take place on November 4.
The current Speaker John Bercow, who has held the office since June 22 2009, will take the chair for a final time on October 31, the House of Commons has revealed.
Mr Bercow will formally resign as an MP on November 4, in keepeing with his two immediate predecessors.
The election of a new Speaker will be presided over by Father of the House, Conservative MP Ken Clarke.
Nominations of candidates must be submitted between 9.30am and 10.30am on November 4, with the House proceeding immediately to the election when business begins at 2.30pm. Mr Clarke will be in the chair.
Any MP can stand to be Speaker, although if a minister or an opposition frontbencher did so, they would be expected to resign from their position.
Candidates will each address MPs in an order selected by ballot, before MPs vote in secret.
Successive ballots will be held until either a candidate wins more than 50% of the vote, or only one candidate remains.
The successful candidate – who will then become the Speaker-elect, will attend the Lords Commissioners in the House of Lords to receive Royal Approbation.
It will be up to the Conservative whips whether to move the writ immediately in Mr Bercow’s seat, sparking a by-election in Buckingham, or whether to wait to fill the vacancy until a general election.
Confirmed candidates in the running to be the next Speaker include the two Deputy Speaker’s Lindsay Hoyle (Chorley) and Dame Eleanor Laing (Epping Forest), Mother of the House and Labour MP Harriet Harman, Labour MP Meg Hillier (Labour, Hackney South & Shoreditch), Labour MP Chris Bryant (Rhondda), Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh (Gainsborough), Conservative MP Sir Henry Bellingham (North West Norfolk) and Conservative MP Shailesh Vara (North West Cambridgeshire).
The Speaker’s roles in the House of Commons include controlling debates, deciding who speaks, selecting amendments and choosing whether to allow urgent questions or emergency debates.
