Freedom to fine?

One of the over-arching constitutional principles of the UK - set down in the 1688 Bill of Rights is this: "That the Freedome of Speech and Debates or Proceedings in Parlyament ought not to be impeached or questioned in any Court or Place out of Parlyament."

I wonder if anyone's mentioned this to the European Court of Human Rights, who seem to be in the process of setting rather an interesting precedent.

The Grand Chamber of the ECHR has issued what amounts to a preliminary judgement overturning disciplinary action by the Parliament of Hungary against two groups of opposition MPs who staged demonstrations against the ruling FIDESZ party. Among other things they unfurled banners, used megaphones in the chamber and placed a small wheelbarrow full of soil in front of the prime minister.

The Parliament punished them with fines ranging from 170 to 600 euros - and the MPs complained to the court that the decision violated their rights under Article 10 of the European Convention (Freedom of Speech) and under Article 13 (right to an effective remedy) because they had no mechanism to appeal against their fines.

The Court upheld their complaints and ordered the fines to be repaid.

Now, this may all have taken place in a faraway country, of which we know nothing, but imagine the fun if the ECHR did something similar to an MP who had been named by the Speaker, sent out of the Chamber and "suspended from the service of the House"; a punishment which includes a loss of salary.

For centuries, Parliament and the UK courts have gone to some trouble to avoid treading on each others' toes; it's hard to imagine an incursion by the ECHR not causing quite a detonation.