John Bercow is to consider contempt of Parliament allegations aimed at the Government over its handling of the release of Brexit impact assessments.
SNP Commons leader Pete Wishart confirmed he has written to the Speaker to formally make an allegation of contempt for "refusing to fully comply with a binding vote" of the House.
Mr Bercow said he has yet to read the letter, adding he will study it "most carefully".
MPs last week approved a parliamentary motion which pushed the Government to release its analysis on 58 sectors of the economy to the Exiting the EU Select Committee.
READ MORE: Scottish Government children's minister Mark McDonald 'resigned over text message'
Brexit minister Steve Baker earlier said the Government expected to publish analysis of the economic impact of Brexit within three weeks.
But Conservative former minister Anna Soubry said the information should be released "properly and quickly" and labelled the response a "gross contempt" of Parliament.
Raising a point of order, Mr Wishart told the Speaker: "The Government has been mandated on a binding vote of this House to deliver analysis papers to the Brexit select committee as directed in the motion.
"They have to, as the motion clearly intends, do so without qualification, redaction or equivocation.
"There's also an expectation the Government complies with the will of the House as a matter of urgency."
Mr Wishart criticised Mr Baker's response to the urgent question, adding of the three-week timescale: "This appeared to be an intention, not a binding promise or guarantee.
READ MORE: Scottish Government children's minister Mark McDonald 'resigned over text message'
"He also suggested that the publication of these papers could be partial and qualified. He even went as far to suggest that these papers didn't even exist.
"Mr Speaker, you have said a failure to comply fully would mean the Government could be in contempt of this House.
"I have now written to you regarding a privilege complaint that this Government has held this House in contempt for refusing to fully comply with a binding vote of this House."
Mr Bercow, in reply, said: "He is quite right in his assessment that the correct way in which to proceed with an allegation of contempt is in writing to the Speaker.
"He has just informed the House he has just written to me. He will understand I have not yet seen his letter. I can, however, assure him I will study his letter most carefully.
"He will also I'm sure appreciate that I will not and cannot be expected to entertain... hypothetical scenarios as to what might follow.
"I will consider his letter carefully and when I have formed a view about it and any allegation it contains I will revert in all probability not only to (Mr Wishart) but, as necessary, to the House."
READ MORE: Scottish Government children's minister Mark McDonald 'resigned over text message'
Contempt of privilege is a term used to describe any act, or failure to act, that may prevent or hinder the work of either House of Parliament.
Examples of contempt include giving false evidence to a parliamentary committee, threatening an MP, forging documents or attempting to bribe members.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel