§ Mr. SpeakerYesterday the hon. Member for Islington, South-West (Mr. George Cunningham) raised as a matter of privilege the failure of the office of the Serjeant at Arms to provide him with a copy of the list of Lobby correspondents.
I have given careful consideration to the hon. Member's complaint. I am, of course, always ready to consider any representations which hon. Members may make to me about difficulties which they may encounter in their attempts to carry out their duties as Members of the House, and where necessary I am very ready to seek the advice of the Services Committee. This I propose to do in the present instance. I do not, however, believe that the matter which the hon. Gentleman has raised as one of privilege is such as to justify giving it precedence over the Orders of the Day.
§ Mr. George CunninghamI am grateful to you for your ruling, Mr. Speaker, and am not surprised by it on a technical point. May I remind you that yesterday 1638 afternoon I asked not only for your ruling on the question of privilege, but also for your assistance in an informal way by using your authority to assist me to obtain the up-to-date list of Lobby correspondents, which is not the list which is given in "Vacher". I hope that the process of your asking the Services Committee to sort the matter out on a permanent basis need not stop somebody from getting this wretched list before the end of the day; and, whoever it is whom I need address that thought, I hope that I shall get the list before the end of the day.
§ Mr. SpeakerAll I am prepared to say is that at the end of "Vacher" there is a list of Parliamentary Lobby correspondents. The list is corrected to 25th January 1973. If there have been any changes since then, I hope that the authorities will inform the hon. Gentleman of any changes or additions.