Regulation will be imposed on press as politicians reject self-regulation
The first rules on state regulation of the press for more than 300 years will be set out this week after politicians rejected the newspaper industry’s plans for self-regulation
Maria Miller, the Culture Secretary, told MPs that there will be a new system of press regulation backed by law.
She also signalled her frustration with Downing Street over the way new rules were agreed in a late-night deal with campaigners earlier this year.
A senior Labour MP has also warned that his party is undermining democracy by supporting a system that forces newspapers to participate. Following last year’s Leveson Inquiry into wrongdoing by tabloid journalists, politicians and the newspaper industry put forward differing proposals for press regulation, to be backed with a Royal Charter.
The industry proposal, which would expose newspapers to £1 million fines but not give the state a role in regulation, has been described as the toughest regulatory regime in the free world.
The politicians proposed a statutory system that would compel newspapers to join. Publications that refuse will face “exemplary” damages in the event of libel. Both plans have been considered by ministers on the Privy Council. Mrs Miller told MPs that the industry proposal has been rejected as unacceptable to politicians.
“In the light of this, we will be taking forward the cross-party charter which was debated in this House,” she said.
Final details of the regime will be set out by Friday, she said, promising changes to reflect industry concerns.
The newspaper industry said that a regime “imposed” by politicians was a threat to free speech. In a joint statement, the Newspaper Publishers Association, the Newspaper Society and the Professional Publishers Association said: “Nothing could be more controversial than a Royal Charter imposed by politicians on an industry which is wholly opposed to it and which would fatally undermine freedom of expression.”
The Hacked Off campaign group, which seeks tighter curbs on the press, said rejection of the industry’s proposal was “long overdue”.
The cross-party agreement on how politicians would seek to regulate the press was reached in a late-night meeting in the office of Ed Miliband, the Labour leader, on March 18. It was attended by representatives of the three main parties and Hacked Off.
The industry was not invited or represented. The Government was represented by Oliver Letwin, David Cameron’s policy chief, rather than the Culture Secretary. In the Commons, Mrs Miller admitted that the meeting had looked bad.
Mr Miliband’s supporters say he has led debate on press regulation, but not all Labour MPs are happy with his position.
Tom Harris, a former minister, warns on Wednesday that his party is undermining freedom. Writing for The Daily Telegraph, he says: “My party is turning its back on a core tenet of progressive politics: that a genuinely free press, however infuriating, is an indispensable foundation stone of democracy.”
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