Hansard is the traditional name for the substantially verbatim transcripts of debates in the United Kingdom Parliament and in the legislatures of many Commonwealth countries, including Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, and South Africa. The name comes from Thomas Curson Hansard (1776–1833), a London printer who took over publication of parliamentary debates from William Cobbett in 1812. Although early editions were compiled from newspaper reports and were not fully verbatim, the British Parliament took official responsibility for the record in 1909, and today Hansard is produced by in-house reporters in both the House of Commons and the House of Lords.
Hansard is described as "substantially verbatim" rather than strictly word-for-word: reporters remove repetitions and obvious mistakes, and correct grammar, but they do not alter the substance of what was said. Members may suggest minor corrections to their own contributions before publication, but cannot change the meaning. Daily reports are typically published online within hours of a sitting and are freely accessible through hansard.parliament.uk and equivalent national portals.
For researchers, Hansard is a primary source for tracking:
- Ministerial statements and policy commitments made on the floor
- Written and oral questions posed by backbenchers, including answers from departments
- Voting divisions, showing how each member voted
- Committee proceedings, in jurisdictions where these are reported in Hansard
In UK statutory interpretation, the House of Lords decision in Pepper v Hart (1992) established that courts may, in limited circumstances, consult Hansard to clarify ambiguous legislation by reference to ministers' statements during a bill's passage. This made Hansard legally significant beyond its archival role.
For MUN delegates and IR students, Hansard offers granular evidence of a government's stated position, the domestic political constraints on foreign policy, and the language used to justify treaty ratification, military deployments, or sanctions decisions — material that rarely appears in press releases with the same fidelity.
Example
In December 2019, then–Prime Minister Boris Johnson's statement on the Queen's Speech was recorded in Hansard, providing researchers with the exact wording of his post-election Brexit commitments.