HC Deb 30 April 1974 vol 872 cc953-4
Mr. Speaker

I shall now give my ruling on the complaint concerning privilege that was made yesterday by the hon. Member for Bolsover (Mr. Skinner) arising out of a passage in the Sunday Times of last Sunday. Immediately after he had raised the matter I invited him to bring me a copy of the document to which he referred. He later provided me with a complete copy of the Sunday Times. I remind the House that the strict rule, which I hope will be observed in future, is that Members making a complaint based on the contents of a newspaper must hand in a complete copy of the paper at the time of making the complaint. Further, it is helpful if a Member gives notice to me of his intention to raise such a matter.

On the matter of the complaint of the hon. Member for Bolsover, I cannot find that it is of such a nature that I should permit a motion relating to the matter to be given precedence over Orders of the Day.