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

_{The Speaker of the House of Commons and his opposite number in Australia’s New South Wales Parliament discussed the importance of exchanging security expertise to keep their respective administrations safe.}

_{Sir Lindsay Hoyle told the Hon Jonathan O’Dea MP he believed intelligence sharing was one of the main ways to look after MPs, their staff and visitors.}

_{Secure vs Open Parliaments was the theme of last year’s G7 Speakers’ Conference in Mr Speaker’s Chorley constituency, which was attended by Nancy Pelosi, Speaker of the US House of Representatives.}

_{It followed terrorist attacks on the UK and Canadian Parliaments and the assault on Capitol Hill that was whipped up by social media.}

_{Sir Lindsay stressed the importance of keeping debate in the Chamber rigorous yet respectful, while also citing how training for new MPs had been particularly important to help them understand Parliament’s rules and expected behaviours.}

_{The two Speakers also discussed how to keep constituency offices secure, HR for MPs’ staff, and the challenges of maintaining old Parliament buildings.}

_{The meeting was organised by Sir Lindsay as part of his Speaker-led diplomacy to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians.}

^{The Speaker of Nigeria’s House of Representatives has told of his country’s need for help with power generation and to address climate change.}

_{During a meeting with Sir Lindsay Hoyle, Speaker of the House of Commons, His Excellency Femi Gbajabiamila said while his country has the biggest economy in Africa, it needs partnership support on a number of fronts.}

_{In particular, the Nigerian Speaker said chronic droughts had shrunk Lake Chad – one of Africa’s largest freshwater bodies – by 90 per cent over the last 60 years, causing untold misery to the region.}

_{The lake, which has been the source of drinking water, irrigation, fishing, livestock and economic activity, used to provide employment for three million Nigerians, but now the number is nearer 10,000, he said.}

_{Mr Gbajabiamila said ideally the lake needs rechannelling and dredging to make it more viable and to stop people from leaving Nigeria to find work elsewhere.}

_{He also told how his country needed to find environmentally friendly ways to boost its electricity generation from 5,000 megawatts to 30,000 megawatts by 2030, to help serve its population of 219.5m.}

_{The Nigerian Speaker, accompanied by a delegation from his Parliament, made the comments during a meeting initiated by Sir Lindsay, as part of his Speaker-led diplomacy to establish enduring ties between countries and parliamentarians.}

_{Mr Gbajabiamila also discussed the value of inter-parliamentary delegations meeting each other and how his country needs a library and research service for its legislature – something which Sir Lindsay offered the services of the House of Commons authorities to help advise on.}