A PLYMOUTH MP has urged the Prime Minister to apologise every time a minister leaks new policy information to the media.

Alison Seabeck, the Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View, spoke out about the frustrations felt by back benchers when ministers spoke to the media about policy announcements before making statements to the House of Commons.

This came as the new backbench business committee called for tough new rules to govern the release of information in a bid to reassert the primacy of Parliament.

The ministerial code, which says "the most important announcements" should be made to Parliament first, is policed by the Prime Minister, not the House of Commons.

Ms Seabeck said: "If David Cameron had to apologise every time it happened, I'm sure he'd be so fed up that things would change."

She said MPs were often left red-faced when questioned by journalists about something they knew nothing about.

"You get asked 'what do you think about this?' and you discover that a minister has accidently or deliberately leaked something that you don't know about," said Ms Seabeck.

She said she believed back benchers could do their jobs better and respond to information in a more genuine way if they all heard it at the same time in the House.

"Otherwise you end up hearing the bits the ministers want you to hear rather than the whole picture," she said.

"I think it would be easier for MPs to behave and respond in a more individual way if it was more tightly monitored."

She said she realised the problem occurred under all governments.

Spearheading the move, Tory committee member Philip Hollobone echoed this saying all governments, Labour, Conservative or coalition, had leaked key announcements to journalists in the past.

South West Devon MP Gary Streeter, said he agreed with Ms Seabeck's views in theory but that in practice the reality was that MPs were faced with a 24-hour international media machine that "needed feeding".

He said: "It is essential for there to be a relationship between ministers and the press. The press is a crucial part of our democratic institutions."