ROTHESAY — New Ulster’s political landscape has been rocked after an announcement on Sunday evening that Autumn Hunter, Speaker of the House of Assembly, had joined the opposition Democratic Party.
The news was met with indignation and outrage on the government benches yesterday, with Premier Ethan McAllister calling on the her to resign.
‘[Speaker Hunter] has brought her office into disrepute,’ castigated the Premier, ‘she should—no, must—resign. The office of Speaker, as we’re all aware, must be neutral and apolitical. Sadly, we can no longer say that it is.’
McAllister concluded saying that Hunter had ‘perhaps permanently’ damaged the ‘prestige, honour and—most importantly—trust’ of the speakership.
Despite the strong criticism and calls to resign, Hunter reassured the House Monday that, while she has joined the opposition ‘on paper’, she will continue to be nonpartisan ‘in practice’.
‘I will continue to serve in a neutral and nonpartisan manner,’ she announced to to the House of Monday, heckled and jeered by Lib-Con MPs, ‘my joining the Democratic Party is for personal reasons, not political reasons.’
The statement was much derided by members of the Liberal Conservative government. MP Jere Buterbaugh said, ‘To say joining a political party is not political is just laughable.’
However, the Speaker’s move was defended by the opposition Democratic Party led by Stephen Cameron.
The Leader of the Opposition said, ‘Had the [Liberal Conservative Party] won an extra seat in August’s election, then one of their members would be serving as Speaker.’ He continued, ‘I strongly suspect under that scenario, they would have no problem with the Speaker being a member of a political party.’
The Premier replied that the two scenarios were not comparable, and added, ‘Any LibCon Speaker would’ve had their membership of the party paused while they served.’
Liberal Conservative Party leader Ethan McAllister leads a minority government after his party won 3 of the 7 seats in the House of Assembly at August’s general election.
Having won 2 seats at the same election, the Democratic Party now draws level to the LCP to hold 3 of the 7 seats following Speaker Hunter’s joining them.
The remaining MP, Deb Sergeant, is an independent and unaffiliated with either the LibCons or the Dems, though she sits on the opposition benches and has previously voted with the Dems to defeat government bills.
Although undoubtedly outraged by the partisan nature of Hunter’s move, the Premier will also have an eye on the parliamentary math. There is now no guarantee the Speaker—regardless of promises—can be relied upon to prop up his minority government in a confidence vote.
It seems the turmoil is just starting, too. There are musings from the government benches that they will try and remove the Speaker via a confidence vote, while the opposition may well be considering a confidence vote in the government itself. The latter makes another 2021 general election seem increasingly likely.
The House next sits on Wednesday when the fallout will doubtless continue.
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