Parliamentary Standards Bill

My Lords, fortunately, the position of criminal proceedings against a person who is a Member of Parliament is subject to the ordinary principles; in that situation parliamentary privilege would arise. Parliament could not be landed in a position where the courts were undermining the privilege of free speech, which is so important, in the Houses of Parliament. However, once you put a specific statutory obligation upon a Member of Parliament, as this Bill does, to provide information without limitation as to what information can reasonably be sought, that surely creates a different situation. It is that different situation to which I was seeking to draw attention. I was going to refer to the fact that perhaps an alternative way of dealing with the matter would be by giving an express right of appeal to the Member, instead of the Member relying upon judicial review. I note what has been said about the possibility of an appeal to the Privy Council—an appeal which is now to be dealt with by our new Supreme Court. I am bound to ask: is that the right place for an appeal on a matter of this nature to go, bearing in mind that it is thought that the criminal offence would go before a magistrates’ court? You would get a ruling on evidence by the Privy Council in relation to proceedings which could take place in the magistrates’ court. The Supreme Court will have jurisdiction over the whole of the United Kingdom—to that extent it is different from any other court—but the Crown Court and magistrates’ court, at least in England and Wales, would seem more appropriate destinations for an appeal. However, for different reasons, each would be inappropriate destinations for matters with which the Bill is concerned.