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Speaker of House of Assembly
The Speaker of the House of Assembly is the presiding officer of the House of Assembly. The speaker is elected from amongst the members of the House by the members, and by convention is usually elected from the members of the largest party in the house.
The speaker decides who may speak and has the powers to discipline members who break the procedures of the house. The speaker must be politically neutral and is not concerned with substantive issues that are debated before the house. In the event of a tie, the speaker is permitted to vote, but only according to established conventions.
Role of the Speaker
The speaker performs a number of roles inside and outside the House of Assembly.
In the House - The Speaker's most visible role is that of presiding over the House when in session. This involves overseeing the order in which business is conducted, and determining who should speak at what time. The Speaker is also responsible for granting or declining requests for certain events, such as a snap debate on a particular issue. An important part of the Speaker's role is ruling on matters of procedure known as 'Points of order' based on Standing Orders and previously made Speaker's Rulings. This has a large bearing on the smooth running of each parliamentary session. Included in these rules are certain powers available to the Speaker to ensure reasonable behaviour by MPs, including the ability to remove disruptive MPs from the debating chamber. The Speaker presides over the business of Parliament from the elevated 'Speaker's Chair' behind The Table in the debating chamber.
Outside the House - The Speaker is also responsible for administering the upkeep and security of the buildings and grounds of Parliament (including the Central Block, East Block, West Block and the Parliamentary Library buildings). These duties are mainly fulfilled through presiding over select committees, including the Standing Orders Committee, the Business Committee, and The Officers of Parliament Committee. The Speaker also chairs the Parliamentary Service Commission. The Speaker also has some other statutory responsibilities.
The Speaker is fifth in the order of precedence between the First Minister and the Chancellor.
Neutrality
The Speaker is expected to conduct the functions of the office in a neutral manner, even though the Speaker is generally a former member of the governing party. Convention requires an MP elected Speaker to resign from his or her party. Only one person has held the office despite not being from the governing party. In 2026, Louise Norris was allowed to remain Speaker after the fall of the Gates government.
A Speaker also loses the right to cast a vote, and a tied vote is considered lost. The Speaker's lack of a vote can create problems for a governing party - when the party's majority is small, the loss of the Speaker's vote could be problematic.
Election of the Speaker
The Speaker is always a Member of Parliament, and is elected by the House at the beginning of a parliamentary term. Candidates need to be nominated by at least twelve members, of whom at least three must be of a different party than the candidate. Each member may nominate no more than one candidate. The House then votes by secret ballot; an absolute majority is required for victory. If no candidate wins a majority, then the individual with the fewest votes is eliminated, as are any candidates who receive less than five percent of the votes cast. The House continues to vote, for several rounds if necessary, until one member receives the requisite majority.
If only one candidate is nominated, then no ballot is held, and the House proceeds directly to the motion to appoint the candidate to the Speakership. A similar procedure is used if a Speaker seeks a further term after a General Election: no ballot is held, and the House immediately votes on a motion to re-elect the Speaker. If the motion to re-elect the Speaker fails, candidates are nominated, and the House proceeds with voting as described above.
Upon the passage of the motion, the Speaker-elect is expected to show reluctance at being chosen; he or she is customarily dragged by colleagues to the Chair. This custom is a relic of the era when the Speaker, as representative of the House of Commons, could have been required to bear bad news to the Sovereign.
Holders of the office
The current Speaker is Helen Carter-Jones, a former member of the Social Democratic Labour Party, which is the dominant party in the governing coalition. There are also a Deputy Speaker which is held by Jason Fraser from the National Party.
Eight people have held the office of Speaker since the creation of Parliament in 2012. A full list of Speakers is below.
| Speakers of the House of Assembly | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| # | Name | Former Party* | In Office | Duration | ||
| 1 | Sir Owen Kent | United | 1 October 2012 - 27 July 2015 | |||
| 2 | Sir James Gaskil | National | 27 July 2015 - 20 April 2020 | |||
| 3 | Sir Timothy Rowan | United | 20 April 2020 - 4 March 2024 | |||
| 4 | Dame Louise Norris | National | 4 March 2024 - 15 March 2032 | |||
| 5 | Sir Garry Beckett | National | 15 March 2032 - 12 March 2040 | |||
| 6 | Dame Ann Barker | SDLP | 12 March 2040 - 14 March 2044 | |||
| 7 | Henry Unsworth | National | 14 March 2044 - 11 March 2052 | |||
| 8 | Helen Carter-Jones | SDLP | 11 March 2052 - Present | Incumbent | ||
* By convention, the Speaker resigns from his or her party and sits as an independent. At a general election, if the current Speaker seeks re-election, all major opposition parties do not contest the Speaker's seat and the Speaker is usually described on the ballot as the Speaker of the House of Assembly.
