Randy Horton emphasised his right to maintain order in the House of Assembly this morning, but said that on “careful reflection” a different course could have been taken on Friday evening to avert a mass Opposition walkout.

As Parliament opened in the wake of a stormy weekend of press statements and counter statements, the Speaker of the House turned back the clock on his decision to halt debate on an amended version of a motion.

The motion was brought by Walton Brown, the Progressive Labour Party Member of Parliament, to create a joint select committee to review immigration policy.

The amendments by Attorney-General Trevor Moniz were about to be voted on without debate when David Burt, the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, stood to make a point of order.

It was the fourth time that Mr Burt had taken to his feet in the course of a heated session, and Mr Horton called the sergeant at arms to assist in his removal from the House. Before that could happen, Mr Burt and his PLP colleagues staged a mass walkout, leaving the Government MPs to pass the amendments unchallenged.

“In my haste to move the debate along, I allowed it to be brought to a vote,” the Speaker said this morning. “Upon reflection and with the benefit of hindsight, I should not have allowed the amendment motion to be brought to a vote at such an early stage.”

The Speaker made the admission during a statement that he gave to launch today’s proceedings.

He said: “Upon careful reflection I believe I could, and should, have taken a different course of action on Friday evening. It certainly was not my intention to prevent or shut down debate on the original motion or the amended motion. I had heard some argument on whether the amended motion should be allowed and I ruled. I thought it could be ‘put’ and I stand by that decision.

“In my haste to move the debate along, I allowed it to be brought to a vote.

Noting that Mr Burt had made a statement to the media in the aftermath of the walkout, he said: “I presume that the Honourable Member’s remarks were reported accurately. The Honourable Member then wrote a letter of complaint to me and shared that letter with the press for publication. This action was more than disappointing, for it completely cut across, if not undermined, the procedures by which this House is to be governed and by which it is meant to govern itself. Further, I view this action as a violation of a Member’s duty to the House, its rules and procedures for addressing matters of the House even where a Member feels that he is right and that he is justifiably aggrieved. It is wrong and unhelpful.

“Some of the reported remarks were at the very least disrespectful and, whether intended or not, bordered on being contemptuous of the Speaker, the House and how we govern ourselves.

“I understand that the Honourable Member and others of his colleagues were aggrieved and angry that night as a result of my decisions.”

The Speaker said that did not believe that MPs can “avail themselves of the rights and privileges of Standing Order 13 in respect of any grievance or complaint they may have with him or any of his decisions, and called it a “non-starter,” explaining that Standing Order 10(3) states in part: “The Speaker shall not take part in any debate before the House.”

Mr Horton said the matter should be referred to the House’s Standing Orders Committee, which would make recommendations in regards to further action that should be taken.

“I shall refer this entire matter to the House’s Standing Orders Committee which is empowered under our rules to consider and report on matters which appear to affect the powers and privileges of the House,” he said.

“The Standing Orders Committee will be free to recommend what sanctions, if any, should be imposed. It may be that some further guidance will emerge — for Honourable Members and for me as Speaker of the House. I would like to believe that we can sort these contentious matters out as Honourable Members collaboratively and make recommendations with respect to further actions that should be taken.”

While the Speaker said he would defer to the Standings Orders Committee, one of that number — Opposition Leader Marc Bean — has called his position “untenable”.

• For the full text of the Speaker’s statement, click on the PDF file under “Related Media”.