Newspapers spared paying crippling legal costs of both sides in data protection cases

NEWSPAPERS will not be forced to pay the legal costs of all parties involved in data protection cases brought against them after MPS removed the demand in a new Bill.

Concerns had been raised that small local papers would be forced to close if the measures had become law because they would not be able to shoulder the costs of legal cases.

But MPS removed two key clauses in the Data Protection Bill this week, meaning costs for cases involving the use of data will no longer fall solely on newspapers. The clauses had been inserted in the House of Lords after peers expressed concerns about the way the press operates following the Leveson inquiry.

However, speaking out against the wording Matt Warman, a Conservative MP and former Telegraph journalist, said it “would obviously have a clear, chilling effect not only on our local newspapers, which are often on the brink of bankruptcy, but on the broader media”.

He added: “We can look at fantastic pieces of journalism even today, such as the one about Cambridge Analytica. The Guardian itself says, ‘Please, we would like your donations so we can keep our valuable journalism free’. The paper has had to fight off three pieces of legal action by Cambridge Analytica and one from Facebook.” He added that “these huge corporations seek to shut down legitimate investigation”.

Labour MPS or peers in the House of Lords could still add the clauses back into the Bill at a later stage, but a source told The Daily Telegraph they would be unlikely to succeed. Critics have warned the clauses could have encouraged people to bring cases against newspapers because they held grudges and would have suffered no financial penalty for doing so, even if they lost.

It follows the decision by Theresa May not to pursue Leveson 2, the second part of the inquiry into press ethics.