THE Commons Speaker has suggested ministers should resign for briefing out details of the Budget in advance.
He alluded to the events of 1947 when Labour chancellor Hugh Dalton was forced to resign after leaking key parts of his statement to a reporter.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle said Dame Eleanor Laing, the deputy speaker who oversees the Budget proceedings, was “also very upset” by the UK Government opting to brief the media several announcements ahead of Wednesday’s statement from Chancellor Rishi Sunak.
The Speaker granted an urgent question on extra funding for the NHS, one of several announcements briefed over the weekend, and said he will continue to force ministers to appear before MPs if they keep briefing the media ahead of Parliament.
He added: “At one time ministers did the right thing if they briefed before a Budget – they walked.”
Shouts of “resign” could be heard, with the Speaker adding: “Yes, absolutely, resign. It seems to me we’ve got ourselves in a position that if you’ve not got it out five days before, it’s not worth putting out.
“I’ve got to say, members are elected to this House to represent their constituents, those constituents quite rightly expect the MP to hear it first in order to be able to listen to what the Budget is about, but also for the days following that to be able to hold them to account.
"It’s not acceptable and the Government shouldn’t try to run roughshod over this House, it will not happen.”
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