Speaker Boothroyd: Parliament overlooked

Speaker Defends Parliament's Right to Information

She rebuked ministers over the growth in cases of unattributable information given to journalists by ministers, press officers and so-called spin doctors in advance of statements to MPs.

Miss Boothroyd's comments came after Opposition education spokesman Angela Browning protested in a point of order that BBC Radio had disclosed that ministers were about to accept unpublished plans to charge students tuition fees. Mrs Browning said several BBC Radio news reports "stated quite clearly" the Government intended to end the principle of free higher education for all and had accepted the recommendations of Sir Ron Dearing's report into higher education that tuition fees should be charged.

Miss Boothroyd replied that the media reports appeared to based on "very heavy briefing" about the contents of a report which had not yet been published. "The practice of briefing in advance of a ministerial statement by Whitehall sources or ministerial aides has been current for quite a long time. My impression is that over the last 20 years in fact it has progressively developed to the point where the rights of this House are in danger now of being overlooked."

The Speaker went on: "The House is rightly jealous of its role in holding ministers to account. If it is to fulfil its function properly, it must be the first to hear of important developments in Government policy and I deprecate most strongly any action that is taken that tends to undermine this important principle."