MPs vote No on ‘Leveson 2’ plan to shackle press
DRACONIAN measures which would have attacked the freedom of the press to hold politicians to account have been rejected by MPs.
Amendments put forward by senior Labour MPs to the Data Protection Bill would have seen the launch of a new Leveson inquiry.
And they would have tried to force newspapers to sign up to controversial regulator Impress, which was funded by millionaire former far-Right activist Max Mosley.
But the bid by former Labour leader Ed Miliband to launch a new judicial inquiry was rejected by MPs by 304 to 295.
And Labour deputy leader Tom Watson withdrew an amendment on press regulation for lack of support.
Catastrophic
Culture Secretary Matt Hancock warned that the controversial press regulation measures would have a “catastrophic” impact on local papers.
He said proposed changes to the Bill would mean newspapers risking having to pay costs even if a story was accurate and in the public interest.
He warned that the clauses would make it “near impossible” to publish stories of abuse as he highlighted the work of a national newspaper investigative reporter who uncovered the Rotherham child sex exploitation scandal.
Mr Hancock confirmed that Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary would be undertaking a review of how police forces were adhering to new media relations guidance, as recommended by Sir Brian Leveson.
Speaking about the Opposition amendments, Mr Hancock said: “Consider the impacts of these clauses on an editor, faced with criticism of any article by anyone with the means to go to court.
“A publication would risk having to pay costs even if every single fact in the story is true and even if there was a strong public interest in publishing.”
He added: “The impact on local newspapers too risks being catastrophic.”
The minister said that the press had set up its own regulator IPSO which meant that matters had changed since the original Leveson report into phone hacking.
In a hard-hitting speech Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, the son of legendary Times editor William Rees-Mogg, said that to proceed with Leveson part two was to go “against British justice”.
He said: “Freedom of the press is so overwhelmingly precious that we should preserve it even if it upsets us.
“It is amazing how many people who have had run-ins with the press have suddenly found they think it should be more tightly regulated.”
He pointed out that a third of members of the Lords who voted “to shackle the press had been embarrassed by the press”.
And he bemoaned Britain falling to 40th in the international league of press freedom, below France.
He added that Impress is funded by Mr Mosley, who has also given Labour £450,000, describing him as “one of the most disreputable figures in this nation”.
But shadow culture minister Liam Byrne said: “I want to know whether the press regulation system we are setting up takes account of what we have learnt about the sins of the past.”