Is the Speaker being a bit precious with his complaint about pre-Budget announcements? Lindsay Hoyle made a statement in the Commons this afternoon in which he issued a stinging rebuke to Rachel Reeves and other ministers for going ‘around the world telling everybody’ about significant Budget policies, rather than making the announcements to MPs first. He was very clear that he meant the Chancellor in particular, saying:
While this can hardly be described as a leak – the Chancellor herself gave interviews on the record, and on camera – the premature disclosure of the contents of the Budget has always been regarded as a supreme discourtesy to the House; indeed, I still regard it as such.
Downing Street pushed back against this, pointing out that it is ‘entirely routine for government to make announcements in the run-up to Budgets and spending reviews’. The going ‘around the world telling everybody’ line from Hoyle’s statement was a reference to Reeves going to Washington to confirm that she was changing the fiscal rules.
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