It appears the E-Commerce Bill won't be the first Act of the millennium, as announced by e-commerce minister Patricia Hewitt yesterday, because the first new Act of Parliament has already been signed. The Northern Ireland Act 2000 is, in fact, the UK Parliament's first Act of the millennium. And even if this wasn't the first, the privilege would not go to the E-Commerce Bill, but to the Public Finance and Accountability (Scotland) Act 2000, which received Royal Assent on 17 January. Still, you can't blame the minister for a slip up over her bills. After all, it's not as though she was responsible for wiping more than £2 billion of the price of BT's shares, or anything like that. ® Related Stories E-commerce Bill to be UK's first Act of the Millennium BT shares tumble on false Brown Net cuts story