John Bercow
Main Page: John Bercow (Speaker - Buckingham)
Angela Rayner
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. It is clear that the Secretary of State has survived the Division by promising not to press ahead with the Government’s plans to phase out childcare vouchers for another six months, along with other new childcare measures. May I ask your opinion, Mr Speaker, on any suggestion from the Government that there will be an oral statement explaining what will now happen during and after that period?
Mr Speaker
I am grateful to the hon. Lady for her attempted point of order, but I am afraid that her attempt to solicit my opinion will not be successful. I am not aware of any intention for a statement to be made, but the hon. Lady has aired her concern, and it is therefore on the record for all to see.
Tom Watson (West Bromwich East) (Lab)
On a point of order, Mr Speaker. Last week the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport announced his intention to drop the Leveson inquiry despite new revelations from The Sunday Times whistleblower John Ford, including the obtaining of stolen data on the private information of Dr David Kelly a week before his death. The Secretary of State justified the decision by saying that
“the fact that this activity stopped in 2010 underlines the point that the world has changed. Practices such as these have been investigated. Newspapers today are in a very different position from when the alleged offences took place.”—[Official Report, 7 March 2018; Vol. 637, c. 326.]
I have just received new allegations that contradict that information. The blagger says that he knows individuals who are still engaged in these activities on behalf of newspapers. The Secretary of State has no evidential basis on which to make his rather complacent assertion. Have you had notice of a statement from the Secretary of State, Mr Speaker, so that he can justify what evidence he has to say that blagging ended in national newspapers in 2010?
Mr Speaker
I have not received any such indication, I must advise the hon. Gentleman, but he has registered his concern and it will have been heard on the Treasury Bench.