No inquiry into Queen’s Speech leak
By Ian Dunt
There will be no formal inquiry into the leaking of the Queen’s Speech to Sunday newspapers, the prime minister’s spokesman has confirmed.
Parliamentarians were livid to discover that many of the bills to be announced in tomorrow’s Queen’s Speech made their way into the Sunday papers this weekend.
To make matters worse, the leak also contained details of what the Queen was going to say at the state opening of parliament.
“We are looking into what happened but we have concluded we are not going to have a leak inquiry,” the PM’s spokesman said today.
“It is disappointing to see it was in the Sunday newspapers in the way it was.”
The Queen is expected to say that ‘freedom, fairness and responsibility’ will lie at the heart of the coalition government’s legislative agenda.
Shadow leader of the House Rosie Winterton was outraged by news of the leak yesterday.
“The new government will have to explain to parliament their apparent attitude of disregard,” she said.
“I will be calling on the Leader of the House of Commons to explain the situation in parliament and investigate it fully.”