No evidence of bullying in fracking vote, Commons speaker says

An internal investigation has found no evidence of bullying during a vote on fracking last month, the House of Commons speaker has said.

Sir Lindsay Hoyle said the atmosphere was “tense” but there was no evidence of “undue influence” on MPs.

He added that the report about the incident would be published shortly.

The chaos surrounding the vote contributed to the swift downfall of Liz Truss, who resigned as prime minister the next day.

Some MPs had claimed Conservative colleagues were manhandled into backing the government but ministers denied physical force had been used.

Labour MP Chris Bryant said he witnessed “clear bullying” in the division lobby of the House of Commons during the vote on 19 October.

But one Conservative MP, Alexander Stafford, rejected the claims, saying he had a “frank and robust conversation” with members of the government outside the voting lobbies but “nothing more”.

Sir Lindsay told MPs: “The atmosphere was tense and members were raising their voices to make themselves heard, but there is no evidence of any bullying or undue influence placed on other members.

“The crowding made it hard to see what was really taking place.

“While some members thought that physical contact was being used to force a member into the lobby, the member concerned has said very clearly that this did not happen.”