Lords blasted over ‘cynical’ new attack on Press freedom
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PEERS were accused last night of a ‘cynical attempt’ to undermine Press freedom by forcing MPs to vote again on a defeated amendment to a Bill.
Tory MPs accused the Lords of trying to split the Government vote by picking off the Democratic Unionist Party, which has an agreement to back the Conservatives.
A new amendment to the Data Protection Bill by crossbench peer Baroness Hollins makes concessions for the Northern Irish party so it has no incentive to vote with the Government.
But MPs said the attempt would fail and that the Upper House had no right to ‘pervert’ the nature of the Bill.
The Lords will vote today on whether to open a new version of the Leveson inquiry on Press standards and regulation. It could represent a fresh threat to Press freedom if it is backed by the Upper House, as expected, and returned to the Commons.
Yesterday, Tory MPs reacted with fury at the attempt by the Lords to muzzle the free Press with a new inquiry.
Former Tory leader Iain Duncan Smith said: ‘This is a really cynical and sad attempt to pervert the nature of this Bill. We’ve had a vote on this issue in Parliament and it was a victory for the Government.
‘This is another example of the unelected, unrepresentative Lords challenging the authority of the Commons. They do not have the right to mess around with legislation for ideological reasons.
‘This will feed the general view which is gathering pace that it is time to call time on the Lords. It is yet another attempt by the Establishment to shackle the free Press.’
Jacob Rees-Mogg, who made a rousing speech about Press freedom during the Commons debate on former Labour leader Ed Miliband’s original amendment, said: ‘If Lady Hollins’s amendment were passed, it would be giving in to the vested interests of the rich and powerful to punish newspapers which had exposed their peccadilloes.’
Writing in The Sun, he added: ‘It would deter the Press from such fearless reporting in future and would be an attack on one of our most ancient and precious freedoms, a pillar of our constitution.’ He said ‘ fundamental questions’ would arise about the Lords if it became a ‘cheerleader for censorship’.
Senior crossbench peer Lord Bew also said he was ‘very uneasy’ about attempts to open a new version of the Leveson inquiry, saying: ‘I have a very strong bias in favour of Press freedom.’
On Wednesday, MPs voted by 304 to 295 to block the establishment of a new version of the inquiry in a humiliation for Mr Miliband, who tabled it.
Despite the defeat, Baroness Hollins made fresh demands on Friday for a new inquiry. Her bid has an exemption for local and regional newspapers, so any new regulations may apply to national titles only.
Crucially, the new amendment has a clause designed to discourage the DUP from voting with the Government. Mr Miliband’s amendment was defeated with the support of the party, which was promised its own inquiry into the Northern Irish media in return for siding with the Tories.
The MPs, who struck an agreement to vote with the Government after the election, were given guarantees by Culture Secretary Matt Hancock.
But the clause removes the incentive for the DUP to vote against the Bill, potentially causing a headache for Theresa May.
Baroness Hollins’s amendment could be passed if approved by the Lords and Jeremy Corbyn whips Labour MPs to vote for it in the Commons.
It is another bid by the Lords to impose a policy that has been rejected by the Commons, after weeks of attempts by peers to frustrate Brexit by inflicting 14 defeats on the Government.
‘Vested interests of the rich’
WHEN will the unelected house of lords end its relentless campaign to destroy the free Press? Just days after the Commons voted against another expensive and pointless witch-hunt against newspapers, some obsessive peers are trying to force the issue back on to the agenda.
In flagrant breach of the convention that the upper house won’t overturn Government manifesto pledges, an amendment to the Data Protection Bill calls for a version of leveson Part 2 to be implemented – something the Tories specifically ruled out during the election campaign.
Supporters of the amendment have been courting the Democratic Unionist Party to manipulate a possible future Commons vote, a tactic described by Iain Duncan Smith as ‘really cynical and sad’.
The role of the lords is to revise legislation, not to thwart the elected house. In their desperation to gag newspapers, they appear to have forgotten this.