HC Deb 18 February 1991 vol 186 c37
Mr. Dennis Skinner (Bolsover)

On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. You have heard two different statements concerning the media. First, you heard Members deploring what was being said by the BBC and the ITV in Baghdad and Ministers defending the right of the two companies to make such reports. Then we heard that the House should not be allowed to debate the two calamities at Paddington and Victoria. There seem to me to be two interpretations of Standing Orders. Some people believe that it is wrong for the media to be reporting in Baghdad, but that when bombs are set off in London the media should be allowed to report extensively what has happened in Victoria and Paddington, although Parliament has no rights in the matter. Is that a new Standing Order?

Mr. Speaker

Order. That has nothing to do with Standing Orders. It is a decision by the Government.