Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Hansard source

I've heard the Leader of the House on that point. Respectfully, I disagree with him. I'm trying to say this as subtly as possible: there are two principles here. You don't want Speakers giving their opinion of the factual accuracy of any questions. Speaker Andrew addressed this point a number of years ago quite obviously, and I think his principle's the right one, which is: by ruling such a question out of order, it prevents the minister or the Prime Minister rebutting claims that they regard as factually inaccurate. I've referred to that before, and I think I'll stick with that for this question. The question's in order. Now the Leader of the House on behalf of the Prime Minister is going to answer the question.

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