Points of Order

Zarah Sultana Excerpts

Wednesday 16th July 2025 Commons Chamber

[Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)]

I am grateful to the hon. Member for giving notice of his point of order. The Chair is not responsible for Ministers’ replies to correspondence from hon. Members, but colleagues in all parts of the House are entitled to expect a timely response to their letters, especially from Ministers on constituency matters. He has put his point on the record, and I am sure that the Treasury Front Bench will have noticed his remarks and will pass that on forthwith.

[Zarah Sultana (Coventry South) (Ind)]

On a point of order, Madam Deputy Speaker. I seek your guidance regarding the accuracy of the official report in Hansard. In my speech on Wednesday 2 July 2025 during the debate on the prevention and suppression of terrorism, I said the words, “We are all Palestine Action.” The video and audio recordings clearly confirm that the full sentence was spoken before the Chair intervened. However, Hansard has omitted the final word of that sentence. I have been advised that this is due to a long-standing convention not to report words spoken after the Chair intervenes, but in this case the record omits words spoken before the Chair’s intervention. I am also aware of precedents, which I can provide, where Members’ final words immediately preceding or overlapping an intervention have been included to preserve the accuracy of the record. Despite that, Hansard has not only refused to amend the entry, but has since removed the sentence entirely.

That blatant attempt of censorship and rewriting the record is deeply concerning and undermines the integrity of the Official Report. Can you therefore advise me and the House, Madam Deputy Speaker, on whether there are formal mechanisms to challenge omissions of this kind, reinstate the accurate record and ensure that Hansard fulfils its duty to provide a full and accurate record of proceedings in this House?

[Madam Deputy Speaker]

The hon. Member has now twice put her words on the record, no doubt. If she is not aware—and for colleagues across the House who may not be aware—Hansard has its own editorial policy. If she wishes to have her words corrected, she needs to take that up directly with Hansard. That is not a responsibility of the Chair.