Backbench Business — Ministerial Statements To Be Made to Parliament First — 5 Dec 2011 at 18:42

The majority of MPs voted to make clear Ministers are expected to make announcements to Parliament first and that serious breaches of the expectation should be investigated by the Committee on Standards and Privileges

The motion rejected by the majority of MPs in this vote was:

• That this House
• expects Ministers to make all important announcements relating to government policy to Parliament before they are made elsewhere on all occasions when Parliament is sitting;
• considers that information which forms all or part of such announcements should not be released to the press before such a statement is made to Parliament, as recommended in the First Report from the Procedure Committee, on Ministerial Statements, HC 602; and
• further considers that hon. Members who believe the protocol has been breached should first report this to the Speaker for his judgment and that in the case of a minor breach the Speaker may take appropriate steps but in more serious or more complex cases he would refer the matter to the Committee on Standards and Privileges for further investigation.

Debate in Parliament | Source |