THE FUTURE of beleaguered House of Commons Speaker Michael Martin was in doubt today with one news report claiming he was about to announce he will stand down.

STV reported that Mr Martin would make the announcement in the Commons at 2.30pm.

There was no official confirmation of the report.

The Speaker is due to hold emergency talks on the reform of MPs' expenses at 4pm.

Mr Martin has been under mounting pressure to resign over his handling of the scandal.

Following extraordinary scenes during a Commons debate about MPs' expenses member for Broxtowe Nick Palmer said the Speaker Michael Martin should be removed.

But he warned against making Mr Martin – who has been fiercely criticised for not tackling the issue of MPs' expenses – a scapegoat.

Mr Palmer said: "I don't think the Speaker has risen to the occasion frankly and as part of the wider changes we need to make, we also need a new speaker.

"Whether that means he stands down immediately I'm not so sure – but if we are to have a vote of no confidence and a debate then I would like to see a Speaker in which the public could have confidence in.

"I'm a little uncomfortable with the scapegoating approach. If we simply shoot the Speaker and carry on I think people might feel we've missed the point.

"A new Speaker would have to be a part of wider package of reform."

Mr Martin – whose job it is to impartially resolve such Parliamentary issues – has faced increased pressure to resign. One MP even tabled a motion of no confidence in him.

Yesterday Mr Martin read out a statement in which he said he was "profoundly sorry" to the people of the United Kingdom whom he said Parliament had let down.

He also said that over the next 48 hours he would try to get the party leaders to discuss what measures could be taken immediately to temporarily resolve the crisis.

But several MPs from all major parties stood up to ask him to hand in his resignation – on each occasion he refused to address the issue claiming it would be against parliamentary procedure.

If the motion of no confidence gathers enough support it would be the first time in some 300 years that the Commons had faced a challenge to the Speaker's authority.

But many other Notts MPs were unwilling to call for Mr Martin's resignation. Nottingham North MP Graham Allen said the Speaker was not the only person that needed to take responsibility for the MPs' expense fiasco.

"There are lots of people involved in the system for MPs' expenses that have been under the spotlight – MPs and the House of Commons authorities for example," said Mr Allen.

"The system should have been sorted out ten years ago, but I'm just not happy making the Speaker a scapegoat."

Nottingham South MP Alan Simpson agreed that Mr Martin was not the absolute cause of the MPs' expenses problem.

He said: "There was scapegoating going on in the Commons yesterday – MPs have made these problems for themselves but there is just a frenzy going on at the moment."

Speaking after the debate Tory MP for Newark Patrick Mercer said he had not yet made up his mind as to whether he supported calls for Mr Martin's resignation.

But he added: "This was typical of the House of Commons – lots of hot air and no action. The speaker does, however, have to answer questions about his future."

Sherwood MP Paddy Tipping defended Mr Martin claiming that he was in a difficult situation, but added that he should set a timetable for his departure.

"I support the Speaker – he's in the middle of a crisis not totally of his own making. We all know how tough it can be to get agreement between the parties. I do however think it would be in everyone's interest if Michael Martin made it clear when he was going to stand down. It would allow everyone to stop talking about this and get on with sorting other things out."