Lord Campbell of Pittenweem
Main Page: Lord Campbell of Pittenweem (Liberal Democrat - Life peer)Department Debates - View all Lord Campbell of Pittenweem's debates with the Attorney General
Injunctions
Lord Campbell of Pittenweem Excerpts(13 years, 6 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text Read Debate Ministerial Extracts
Urgent Questions are proposed each morning by backbench MPs, and up to two may be selected each day by the Speaker. Chosen Urgent Questions are announced 30 minutes before Parliament sits each day.
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The Attorney-General
The hon. Lady is absolutely right and it is therefore open to this House and the Government to consider those issues. To return to where I started in my answer to the urgent question, a mechanism has been put in train that will, I hope, allow, on the basis of some cross-party consensus, a sensible view to be taken of how the law can be improved in this area.
Sir Menzies Campbell (North East Fife) (LD)
Does my right hon. and learned Friend agree that some important issues of principle and of the constitutional rights of Members of Parliament are under discussion, as some of the exchanges have already demonstrated? Is it not now time for either the Joint Committee that he mentioned or a special Select Committee of the House of Commons to determine the boundaries of privilege in the modern day and age, some of which were touched on by the special Select Committee that examined the case of Mr Damian Green in the last Parliament?
The Attorney-General
May I reassure the right hon. and learned Gentleman that that matter is in the Government’s programme? Indeed, there should be a draft Bill on that very subject before the end of the Session.