§ Mr. Tim Yeo (Suffolk, South)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. I am concerned about the way in which changes are made in the Official Report which are damaging to Back-Bench Members.
On Tuesday the hon. Member for Dunfermline, East (Mr. Brown) responded to an intervention by my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton, North-East (Mr. Thurnham) on the subject of the Labour patty's £38 million spending measures by saying:
there are no such commitments.In using those words the hon. Gentleman was effectively repudiating every pledge that we have had from the Labour party during the 16 months since the general election. Therefore, not surprisingly, the hon. Gentleman then went to the Official Report and requested that the words be changed. He was then reported as saying:there is no such commitment."—[Official Report, 25 October 1988; Vol. 139, c. 174.]Those words convey a completely different meaning from the words used in the debate.I do not attach any blame to the Editor of the Official Report or its Reporters, who may not entirely have appreciated the significance of the change. Nevertheless, it is of the greatest importance that hon. Members who were not present at 3.45 on Tuesday afternoon should immediately be made aware of the fact that the Labour party is now reneging on every pledge that it has made on—
§ Mr. SpeakerOrder. The hon. Gentleman raised a point of order with me about a change in the Official Report. I have to tell him that he is correct and that the original words were:
there are no such commitmentsand that these were changed to:
there is no such commitment.".On reflection, the Official Report accepts that this change should not have been made and has expressed its regret.
§ Mr. YeoFurther to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. I very much welcome the Fact that that regret has been expressed, but I am sure you will agree with me that many Members rely exclusively on the daily issue of Hansard to learn what has been said in a debate. How, therefore, can you help us to ensure that all those Members who are not present are immediately informed of this very important change in the wording?
§ Mr. SpeakerThey should read today's Hansard and they will be so informed.
§ Mr. Peter Thurnham (Bolton, North-East)Further to that point of order, Mr. Speaker. Will you give some guidance as to which is the true record? If there is a difference between the electronic Hansard and the written Hansard, which should be regarded as the true record? There is a time limit of 24 hours in which to point out such matters. If that is not done, the written record presumably remains as it is.
§ Mr. SpeakerThe published Hansard is the official report.