Sir Harmar NichollsOn a point of order, Mr. Speaker. In putting the point to you, may I say how much I appreciate the Leader of the House staying on, at some inconvenience, to listen to the point as I make it. It may come within his province.
My point concerns a tangle of our procedure which is, apparently, interfering with the freedom of people outside the House. It will be within the recollection of Members of the last Parliament that on 25th January the right hon. Member for Bristol, South-East (Mr. Benn) succeeded in having remitted to the Committee of Privileges a matter arising out of a letter he had received from solicitors who had told him that their clients intended to pursue, through the courts, claims for defamation arising out of a speech he had made.
The right hon. Gentleman established, to the satisfaction of the House, that that was a matter that should go before the Committee of Privileges. Arising from that, the people concerned were invited to attend before the Committee of Privileges on 14th February, only to find that the last Parliament was dissolved on 8th February.
1343 Under our present procedures matters which have been remitted to the Committee of Privileges fall at the end of a Parliament. Therefore, those who felt that they had a claim in the courts for a defamation that had injured them were estopped from proceeding with that because this matter figured on the proceedings of the House still to be dealt with.
Can you help us, Mr. Speaker, on how we can approach the tangle in a way which will either call upon the Leader of the House to withdraw the matter from the Committee of Privileges or allow the right hon. Gentleman who originally raised it to state that he will not proceed with it, so that the people outside who would wish to follow their rights through the courts can do that without infringing the procedures of the House and being in contempt of the House?
§ The Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons (Mr. Edward Short)First, may I say that I do not know whether the hon. Member for Peterborough (Sir H. Nicholls) informed my right hon. Friend the Member for Bristol, South-East (Mr. Benn) that he intended to raise this matter, but I very much regret that my right hon. Friend is not here. He should have been present to hear this exchange.
I received today a letter from Messrs. Lovell, White and King, the solicitors concerned, stating broadly what the hon. Member has said. I am looking into the matter and I will certainly do my best to resolve it. I fully agree that the parties outside are entitled to have a resolution of the matter, and I will do my best to ensure this.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe hon. Member for Peterborough (Sir H. Nicholls) asked me for a ruling. I have no intention of ruling at such short notice today. The matter will be considered, as the hon. Gentleman now knows.