Labour MP and Deputy Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle has been elected by MPs as the new Commons Speaker, after John Bercow stepped down.
In the fourth and final round of voting, Hoyle, the Labour MP for Chorley, received 325 votes to Labour MP Chris Bryant's 213 and pledged to be a “neutral” speaker. Speakers must be politically impartial, which means he will be required to resign from the Labour Party in order to carry out his role.
Earlier on election day, Shailesh Vara, the MP for North West Cambridgeshire, withdrew from the contest to be the next Speaker tweeting his support for Sir Lindsay Hoyle. Vara said he was pulling out from the race in order to avoid "split[ting] the vote".
