HC Deb 10 March 1978 vol 945 cc1805-6

11.4 a.m.

Mr. Speaker

I have to inform the House that I have received a letter from the right hon. Member for Sunderland, North (Mr. Willey), the Chairman of the Select Committee on Race Relations and Immigration, concerning a question of privilege, which I shall shortly read to the House.

Before I do so I should remind the House of the new procedure relating to privilege complaints which was brought into effect by the resolution passed on 6th February of this year. A Member who wishes to raise a complaint must now do so in writing to me as soon as reasonably practicable after he has had notice of the alleged breach of privilege. If I decide that the matter should be given precedence, I shall announce my decision to the House, and it will then be for the Member concerned to table the appropriate motion in his own name for consideration by the House on the following day.

The relevant extracts from the right hon. Member's letter, which is dated 8th March 1978, read as follows: The Select Committee, of which I am Chairman, have been considering their report on immigration in the last few weeks, but no report has yet been made to the House. I request you to consider and rule whether the report of the Committee's proceedings in The Sunday Times (5th March), The Guardian (6th March) and today) and Daily Mail (today) constitute a prima facie breach of privilege, which should be referred by the House to the Privileges Committee. I have given this matter the most careful consideration and I have to rule that the complaint by the right hon. Member in respect of reports in The Sunday Times newspaper of 5th March and in The Guardian newspaper of 6th March was not raised as soon as reasonably practicable after their appearance. However, in respect of the two other reports, in The Guardian newspaper and the Daily Mail newspaper of 8th March, I have come to the conclusion that the right hon. Member's complaint was made to me as soon as reasonably practicable and that this is a matter on which the House should have an opportunity to express an early opinion.

Accordingly, I am prepared to give precedence over the Orders of the Day to a motion concerning the two latter newspaper reports. If the right hon. Member tables the necessary motion today, it will accordingly have precedence over the Orders of the Day at the next sitting of the House, that is to say, on Monday next.

It may be helpful if I remind the House, that should the House decide to refer this matter to the Committee of Privileges, it will be open to that Committee, in accordance with the resolution of 30th October 1947, to inquire not only into the matter of the particular complaint but into facts surrounding and reasonably connected with the complaint. It would be for the Committee of Privileges to consider whether such facts include the earlier newspaper report to which the right hon. Member has referred.

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