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Leveson Inquiry: Cameron receives report | Leveson Inquiry: Cameron receives report |
(about 1 hour later) | |
The Leveson report into media standards has been given to Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of its official publication on Thursday. | The Leveson report into media standards has been given to Prime Minister David Cameron ahead of its official publication on Thursday. |
Mr Cameron pledged to seek a cross-party consensus on regulation, amid some reports the coalition might split on the issue. | |
Labour's Harriet Harman said regulation should be "independent of government" but also "independent of newspapers". | Labour's Harriet Harman said regulation should be "independent of government" but also "independent of newspapers". |
The PM will make a Commons statement on the report at 15:00 GMT on Thursday. | The PM will make a Commons statement on the report at 15:00 GMT on Thursday. |
Downing Street said it had received "half a dozen copies" of Lord Justice Leveson's report, and it is thought deputy prime minister Nick Clegg and the culture secretary will also see it. | |
The PM and deputy PM are set to meet to discuss the government response, amid reports of possible divisions in the coalition over the future level of press regulation. | |
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BBC political editor Nick Robinson says that, with Liberal Democrats less likely to be hostile to the possibility of statutory regulation, Mr Clegg could "take the extraordinary step of speaking in the Commons after the prime minister and in opposition to him". | |
The Lib Dems have asked the Speaker whether Mr Clegg can oppose the prime minister at the despatch box for his statement on the report, the BBC's James Landale reported. There has been no indication of the answer on that question of protocol. | |
The Leveson report is widely expected to recommend some form of statutory regulation overseen by an independent body. The press is currently self-regulated through the Press Complaints Commission (PCC). | |
Downing Street has said the prime minister is "open-minded" about the future of regulation. Previously he said he intended to implement the findings of the Leveson Inquiry, provided they were not "bonkers". | |
Public confidence | Public confidence |
Speaking at Prime Minister's Questions on Wednesday, Mr Cameron told MPs the status quo of press regulation was "unacceptable and needed to change". | |
He said he wanted an "independent regulatory system that can deliver and in which the public have confidence". | He said he wanted an "independent regulatory system that can deliver and in which the public have confidence". |
Ms Harman, Labour deputy leader and shadow culture secretary, said she agreed "100%" with the prime minister's comments. | Ms Harman, Labour deputy leader and shadow culture secretary, said she agreed "100%" with the prime minister's comments. |
The current complaints system "should be put on a proper footing because it's failed", she told BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme. | The current complaints system "should be put on a proper footing because it's failed", she told BBC Radio 4's The World at One programme. |
She went on: "It has to be independent of government and politics and Parliament. We don't want to have anything to do with regulating the press. | She went on: "It has to be independent of government and politics and Parliament. We don't want to have anything to do with regulating the press. |
"But it's also got to be independent of newspapers. You can't have the editors marking their own homework in the way they have been doing in the past." | "But it's also got to be independent of newspapers. You can't have the editors marking their own homework in the way they have been doing in the past." |
| Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond has said he is ready to introduce reformed scrutiny of the press in Scotland if it is recommended in the report. |
A cross-party group of more than 80 MPs and peers, including eight former cabinet ministers and London Olympics chairman Lord Coe, has urged Lord Leveson not to recommend legislation which they say would damage press freedom and give too much power to government. | |
The group, which has written to the href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2012/nov/27/redress-vital-not-press-regulation" >Guardian and the href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/9706854/Leveson-report-state-regulation-is-greatest-threat-to-newspapers-in-300-years-say-Conservative-MPs.html" >Daily Telegraph, argued against "the imposition of any form of statutory control even if it is dressed up as underpinning", and instead called for a stronger "self-regulatory" system. | |
The group backs a proposal from former PCC chairman Lord Hunt and Lord Guy Black, ex-chairman of the body that finances the commission, for a "totally new" version of the regulator with increased powers. | The group backs a proposal from former PCC chairman Lord Hunt and Lord Guy Black, ex-chairman of the body that finances the commission, for a "totally new" version of the regulator with increased powers. |
News International Chief executive href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qptc" >Tom Mockridge told the World at One that this was a "template which has a lot of support in the industry". | |
But some campaigners, like former motorsport executive Max Mosley, say self-regulation has failed and new laws are needed to curb newspapers' excesses. | But some campaigners, like former motorsport executive Max Mosley, say self-regulation has failed and new laws are needed to curb newspapers' excesses. |
Mark Lewis, solicitor for phone-hacking victims including the family of murdered schoolgirl Milly Dowler, said: "Statute sets something up so it can be independent. | |
"I think it has to have a statute behind it. We talk about statutory underpinning, but it's an independent regulator with a statute behind it that says, 'This is enforced,' so that newspapers over a certain size are regulated in the same way as TV companies are regulated, so that there is a complaints body, a body that imposes proper ethical standards." | |
The actor Hugh Grant, who has been campaigning for stricter press regulation and supports independent regulation - but underpinned by statute - told BBC Breakfast: "What people are campaigning for is an end to newspapers being able to regulate themselves, marking their own homework." | |