Speaker of the House of Commons: A look back at the past week

<sup>The Speaker of St Lucia’s House of Assembly spoke of his relief that tourists are flocking back to his eastern Caribbean Sea Island following the pandemic.

His Excellency Hon Claudius J. Francis told the Speaker of the House of Commons that tourism was the mainstay of St Lucia’s economy.</sup>_{"We are now open 24 hours a day, and tourism is coming back after Covid," Mr Francis told Sir Lindsay Hoyle during a meeting at Speaker’s House.}

<sup>"On Saturday we had 2,400 tourists by air and perhaps 3,000 by sea. Five thousand tourists a day in St Lucia is considered a little crowded!"

Speaker Francis gave Speaker Hoyle the update during a get-together hosted by Sir Lindsay as part of his Speaker-led diplomacy to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians.</sup>_{Sir Lindsay said one of the main missions of his Speakership is to make the House of Commons more welcoming to visitors – and for Speaker’s House to be a meeting place for the Commonwealth and British Overseas Territories (BOTs) ‘family’.}

^{"I want to build on our relationships, our friendships and ways of working," he said. "In the case of the BOTs, nobody speaks for them, yet the decisions we make here affect their lives. I want everybody in the tent."}_{Mr Francis, who attended Mr Speaker’s Commonwealth flag-raising ceremony earlier in New Palace Yard, is a talk show host who was formerly President of the Senate of St Lucia. He last visited Parliament in 2000, he said.}

^{During an extraordinary meeting of the G7 Speakers to discuss the situation in Ukraine, the Speaker of the Ukrainian Parliament urged his counterparts in the G7 to push for an immediate embargo on Russian oil and gas.}

^{The hour-long meeting – hosted by Karin Goring-Eckardt, Vice President of the German Bundestag - resulted in a joint Declaration by the Speakers and Presidents of Parliament of the G7 on the Russian Federation’s aggression against Ukraine.}

<sup>This was signed by G7 attendees, including Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives, along with Speakers and Presidents from Parliaments in Italy, Japan, Canada, France and the President of the European Parliament.

Read more here.</sup>

<sup>Four Ukrainian women MPs told the Speaker of the House of Commons they are targets of Russian aggression as they continue to make the case for a no-fly zone over Ukraine. In a meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the group said they dare not return to their apartments – and had travelled to the UK on a diplomatic mission, while their male MP colleagues stayed back in Ukraine to fight.

They told Mr Speaker that they were grateful for the UK’s tough sanctions on Russia – and urged him and others to "use their influence on other heads of Parliament" to impose the same.

Sir Lindsay said he would pass on their concerns during regular meetings with the Defence Secretary, Foreign Secretary and with his fellow Speakers in the Commonwealth.

He had also expressed his solidarity for Ukraine by allowing President Zelenskyy to make an unprecedented address to the House of Commons, and during a virtual meeting of G7 Speakers on Wednesday.</sup>

Read more about the meeting here.