Sir Lindsay Hoyle blasts Rishi Sunak over pre-Budget announcements
Sir Lindsay Hoyle today stepped up his war of words with the Government as he blasted Rishi Sunak for making pre-Budget policy announcements.
The Chancellor will deliver his Budget tomorrow but the Treasury has set out numerous policies ahead of the financial statement.
That approach has prompted repeated rebukes from Sir Lindsay who is adamant all policy announcements should be made to MPs first.
Sir Lindsay criticised ministers over the approach yesterday and did the same again this afternoon after more details were pre-briefed.
The Commons Speaker accused Mr Sunak and the Treasury of treating Parliament in a ‘discourteous manner’ as he vowed to do everything in his power to ensure ministers answer MPs’ questions.
Meanwhile, MPs on both sides of the chamber expressed their anger at the Government’s communications strategy, accusing ministers of ‘treating parliamentary democracy with utter contempt’.
Sir Lindsay Hoyle today stepped up his war of words with the Government as he blasted Rishi Sunak for making pre-Budget policy announcements.
The Chancellor will deliver his Budget tomorrow but the Treasury has set out numerous policies ahead of the financial statement
In pictures released by No111 today Rishi Sunak was pictured in one of his trademark grey sweatshirt, as well as American-style footwear that comes with a hefty £95 price tag
Mr Sunak joked that his dog Nova had not been very excited by the proposals he will unveil tomorrow
Sir Lindsay granted a second urgent question in two days to force Treasury ministers to appear in the Commons to answer questions on the forthcoming fiscal event.
He said the ministerial code states important announcements of Government policy should be made to Parliament first when it is in session.
Sir Lindsay told the Commons: ‘I was disappointed to see more stories in the media today with apparently very well-briefed information about what will be in tomorrow’s Budget.’
He accused the Government of treating the Commons in a ‘discourteous manner’, adding: ‘This House will not be taken for granted, it’s not right for everybody to be briefed, it’s not more important to go on the news in the morning, it’s more important to come here.’
Chief Secretary to the Treasury Simon Clarke defended the Government as he argued part of the objective in ‘trailing specific aspects of the Budget in advance is to help communicate to the public what we’re doing with their hard-earned money’.
Responding to a pre-Budget urgent question from Labour, he said: ‘The ability of Parliament to scrutinise the Government, including the Budget, is clearly crucial which is why we’ve got five days of parliamentary debate ahead of us this week and next and why the the Chancellor will be appearing in addition in front of two select committees of this House next week.’
He said the ‘bulk of the detail of the Budget’ will be set out by Mr Sunak in the Commons tomorrow.
He added: ‘Part of the Government’s objective in trailing specific aspects of the Budget in advance is to help communicate to the public what we’re doing with their hard-earned money because we believe there is merit in clear and accurate information.’
Mr Clarke faced criticism from both Labour and Tory MPs.
Conservative Julian Lewis asked the minister: ‘Why is it important, right or necessary to share Budget information with the media before it is shared with this House where it can be subjected to proper scrutiny? And will he give an undertaking on behalf of the Treasury team to stop doing it?’
Labour’s Angela Eagle added: ‘This is treating parliamentary democracy with utter contempt, and the minister should be completely ashamed of himself, he should have come to this House and apologised, his boss should have come to this House and apologised.’
Sir Lindsay has repeatedly tackled ministers on their habit of making political announcements at press conferences and in briefings to the press.
In January he hit out at Boris Johnson again for setting out his lockdown decision at a press conference instead of to MPs.
The Commons Speaker told the Commons the Prime Minister ‘should be here, I’m sorry if his dinner would have been affected’ after Mr Johnson announced an extension of coronavirus measures to the media.
He accused the PM of ‘running roughshod’ over Parliament, and said Number 10’s treatment of Parliament has been ‘totally unacceptable’ as he again stressed that announcements should first be made at the despatch box.
Yesterday he referenced the 1947 resignation of Hugh Dalton, who quit as Labour chancellor after parts of his Budget were published in in a paper before he gave his speech.
Sir Lindsay said: ‘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.’
