---

Speaker's Committee on the Search of Offices on the Parliamentary Estate

The hon. Gentleman has made an interesting intervention. I now move on to the issue of why the inquiry needs to be held now. That is because we need to clarify the meaning of parliamentary privilege, who can and cannot grant access to an MP's office and effects and—crucially—where constituents stand on the information given to their Member of Parliament in the expectation of confidentiality. Those questions need to be resolved; they cannot be left hanging in the air until the Government deem it convenient to have a debate. In business questions last week, the Leader of the House referred to her four principles on parliamentary privilege; she has referred to them again today. I have to say to her that the four principles that she set out in the piece of paper attached to the note that tried to set up a meeting between her, Government Ministers and Officers of the House last week were not actually about parliamentary privilege—they are general principles. However, the Leader of the House has challenged us to agree with them, so I will take each one in turn. I agree that MPs must be able to do their work, that the Opposition must be able to hold the Government to account and that the law and processes must support that—but where was that principle when police seized material from the office of my hon. Friend the Member for Ashford? I agree that MPs are not above the law, but no one has ever suggested that they are. I agree that no one should seek to undermine the impartiality and professionalism of the civil service or the operation of the civil service code, but where was that principle when Alastair Campbell was given authority over civil servants? I agree that no one should seek to undermine the operational independence of the police, but there is a difference between operational independence and proper accountability.