PROLIFIC ‘tweeter’ Stella Creasy says a warning to MPs that they should not use Twitter in the House of Commons was ‘joke’ that has not been enforced.
Miss Creasy is one of 100 MPs who keeps constituents informed of goings on in the chamber, but Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle appeared to say last Wednesday that the practice should stop.
The apparent warning came during a debate on the Government’s move to scrap the Education Maintenance Allowance.
Labour MP Kevin Brennan demanded to know why Liberal Democrat Julian Muppert tweeted that shadow education secretary Andy Burnham had refused to meet education access advocate, Simon Hughes MP.
The Deputy Speaker responded: "I am glad you have brought it to my attention. I am sure no honourable member will be tweeting from the chamber to let the outside world know what is going on."
Miss Creasy, who has 5,000 followers on Twitter, then responded to Mr Huppert’s comments by tweeting: "You claim Andy (Burnham) has refused to work with Simon Hughes when (the) opposite is true. Using p'mentary privilege to spin perhaps?"
The Walthamstow MP later defiantly tweeted: “It's the lack of signal that makes tweeting in the chamber difficult, not the Commons authorities.”
Today she said: “It was said as a joke. It was on a point of order about misleading people.
“Tweeting is just another way of engaging with people. Tweeting in the House of Commons lets people know what is happening and they can give me their feedback which I can raise in the Commons. It is live interaction.
“A lot of people have contacted me about EMAs (Education Maintenance Allowances), so yesterday I was feeding back to them what was being said.”
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