§ Mr. Andrew MacKay (Bracknell)On a point of order, Mr. Speaker. Could you use this opportunity to confirm that all hon. Members should be entitled to take up constituency cases as they see fit on the Floor of the House and through correspondence with Ministers and, where appropriate and with the full consent of the constituents concerned, possibly even with the media? If you confirm that, Mr. Speaker, will you condemn, as I do, the remarks of the president of the British Medical Association at the BMA conference in Harrogate today who said that we should not be allowed publicly to refer to cases of constituents who are patients in the national health service even when they have specifically asked us to do so? This comes dangerously close to being a breach of privilege of this House and should be condemned by you and by hon. Members on both sides of the House.
§ Mr. SpeakerI am grateful to the right hon. Gentleman for giving me notice of his point of order. I am confident that all Members of the House are conscious of the need to use our privilege of free speech responsibly and, in particular, to protect the privacy and dignity of individual members of the public.