page_title: Parliamentary privilege in the United Kingdom
hierarchical_section_title: Parliamentary privilege in the United Kingdom
caption_attribution_description: John Hemming
context_page_description: Parliamentary privilege in the United Kingdom is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of the House of Commons and House of Lords designed to ensure that parliamentarians are able to carry out their duties free from interference. The privileges are freedom of speech, freedom from arrest on civil matters, freedom of access to the sovereign and that 'the most favourable construction should be placed on all the Houses's proceedings'. Parliamentary privilege is however something that forms part of the law rather than putting Members of Parliament above the law – for example, these rights and immunities do not extend to crimes unrelated to their office. The doctrine of parliamentary privilege was unsuccessfully used to try to prevent details of MPs expenses from emerging in 2010. In recent years the doctrine of parliamentary privilege has made headlines in relation to the arrest of Damian Green and several cases relating to super-injunctions such as RJW & SJW v The Guardian newspaper & Person or Persons Unknown and CTB v News Group Newspapers leading to calls to reform the law relating to privilege.
context_section_description: Parliamentary privilege in the United Kingdom is a legal immunity enjoyed by members of the House of Commons and House of Lords designed to ensure that parliamentarians are able to carry out their duties free from interference. The privileges are freedom of speech, freedom from arrest on civil matters, freedom of access to the sovereign and that 'the most favourable construction should be placed on all the Houses's proceedings'. Parliamentary privilege is however something that forms part of the law rather than putting Members of Parliament above the law – for example, these rights and immunities do not extend to crimes unrelated to their office (for example Labour MP Fiona Onasanya was jailed for lying following a speeding ticket). The doctrine of parliamentary privilege was unsuccessfully used to try to prevent details of MPs expenses from emerging in 2010. In recent years the doctrine of parliamentary privilege has made headlines in relation to the arrest of Damian Green and several cases relating to super-injunctions such as RJW & SJW v The Guardian newspaper & Person or Persons Unknown ('Trafigura') and CTB v News Group Newspapers leading to calls to reform the law relating to privilege.
caption: The Liberal Democrat politician John Hemming used parliamentary privilege to reveal the litigant involved in the case CTB v News Group Newspapers.
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