§ Mr. Nigel Spearing (Newham, South)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. I apologise for not giving you greater notice of the matter that I wish to raise, but the circumstances were unusual. On the radio this morning, the Secretary of State for Transport announced and spoke about a cycling conference, and was delivering an allegedly new Government policy. Because of that, I inquired of the private office whether there would be a statement today. I was informed that there would be, but during the morning the private office telephoned my office and courteously sent an 11-page version of the Secretary of State's speech, because apparently there is to be no statement.
As you know, Madam Speaker, there is in the House an all-party cycling group, of which I am an officer, and, to the best of my knowledge, it was not informed about the conference or the policy. As you will also know, I have extensive cycling experience, because I cover thousands of miles in London each year in that manner. Mr. Speaker Weatherill often drew the attention of Ministers to the desirability of making any policy known to the House first rather than through extensive media coverage, as has happened on this occasion. I hope that you will follow the precedents and the good advice of your predecessor.
§ Madam SpeakerI have long attempted to follow the policy that was adopted by my predecessor, by making it known to the Government that policy statements should be made in the House first. Like hon. Members, I often listen to statements on the radio in the morning in the hope that a further statement in greater detail will be made in the House in the afternoon. Often that does not occur. I deprecate statements or information on policy changes that are made either on the radio or at press conferences. The House should be the first to know when changes of Government policy occur.
§ Mr. Max Madden (Bradford, West)On a point of order, Madam Speaker. At Question Time, you will have 402 heard the hon. Member for Elmet (Mr. Batiste) make an extremely serious allegation against Professor al-Masari, the Saudi dissident who has been granted exceptional leave to remain in the United Kingdom on political asylum grounds—that he had used the World Service to incite racial hatred. If that is the case, will you confirm that the correct course of action for any hon. Member or for anybody else would be to refer the matter to the police and the Attorney-General?
Secondly, Madam Speaker, may I ask for your advice on whether the changes to the proceedings of the House and to the privileges of Members of Parliament since the passage of the Defamation Bill in any way alter the rights that hon. Members have exploited in the past to make that type of serious allegation, against which citizens have no redress?
§ Madam SpeakerThat is an interesting matter, but it is certainly not a point of order for the Chair. Hon. Members have a great deal of privilege in the House, but I have always said that that privilege must always be tempered with responsibility, and that we should not make wild statements. If the hon. Gentleman believes that an hon. Member made wild statements that may be referred to the Attorney-General, he might take it up with the hon. Member himself.