text_body: --- DIVISION TITLE ---
  
  Ministerial Statements to be Made in Parliament First
  
  --- MOTION EFFECT ---
  
  The majority of MPs voted to support a motion promoting the message that important policy announcements should be made to the House of Commons first and not to the wider media.
  
  The motion text read: 
  
  :That this House
  *  ''commends'' the Speaker on the action he has taken over the past year to reassert the principle that Ministers ought to make statements to the House before they are made elsewhere; 
  *  ''notes'' that paragraph 9.1 of the Ministerial Code says that when Parliament is in session, the most important announcements of Government policy should be made in the first instance in Parliament; 
  *  ''believes'' that compliance with this principle is essential for backbenchers to be able to represent the interests of their constituents and hold the Government to account; and
  *  ''invites'' the Procedure Committee to consider how the rules of the House could be better used or, if necessary, changed to ensure compliance with this principle and to develop a protocol for the release of information.
  
  
  
  --- COMMENTS AND NOTES ---
  
  (put thoughts and notes for other researchers here)
  