MPs

What Parliamentary Privilege Actually Protects — And What It Doesn't.

Parliamentary privilege is a set of legal protections enjoyed by members of Parliament that allow them to perform their legislative duties without external interference. The most-cited element is freedom of speech in the chamber — an MP cannot be sued for defamation, or charged with hate speech, or otherwise legally pursued, for words spoken in the House of Commons or Senate. The protections also extend to parliamentary committees, parliamentary publications, and the work of parliamentary officers. But privilege is bounded: it does not cover words spoken outside Parliament, does not exempt MPs from criminal law generally, and does not extend to constituency or campaign communications. This article walks the architecture, the case law, and the contemporary points of friction.