Sir Lindsay Hoyle

Last night, the hon. Member for Gower (Tonia Antoniazzi) presented a petition from the solicitor to the Omagh bombing inquiry, asking for access to unreported evidence from the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee inquiry into the bombing on 15 August 1998. I have also received a letter from the hon. Member for Gower and the hon. Member for North Dorset (Simon Hoare) asking that this matter be given precedence as a matter of privilege on the grounds that “We suggest that the House should be given an opportunity to consider that petition, but it is profoundly unsatisfactory for it to have to make a decision without any ability for any Members to assess the propriety of releasing the evidence or of the privilege issues which may be raised by referring such material to a statutory inquiry which we understand is ‘a place out of Parliament’ for the purposes of Article 9 of the Bill of Rights”. I have considered the issue and decided that this is a matter for which I should allow the precedence accorded to issues of privilege. The hon. Members may therefore table a motion to be debated on Monday. The motion will be taken after any urgent questions or statements and before the Government business. It will be available to Members once it has been tabled, which will be before the rise of the House today.