Hacked Off says it will consider royal charter for new press regulator

http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2013/feb/05/hacked-off-royal-charter-press-regulator

Version 0 of 1.

The Conservatives' attempts to duck a Leveson law and introduce a royal charter for a newspaper regulator were boosted on Tuesday after Hacked Off, the group lobbying on behalf of "victims" of press intrusion, said it was not opposed to the plan.

Hugh Tomlinson QC, the Hacked Off chairman, told a parliamentary select committee that it would consider the Conservative party's proposals once they were published.

"If the political reality is that a charter is much more politically acceptable and if it does something as well as statutory recognition, [then] that is something we are prepared to consider ... We are not ruling it out," he said at a hearing of the culture, media and sport select committee.

However, he said it would only work if the Leveson recommendations were complied with. "These could be written into the rules of a chartered body if that was regarded as more politically acceptable," said Tomlinson.

The position is being seen as significant given that Hacked Off has been openly campaigning for statutory underpinning for the new watchdog along with the Labour party.

However, while Labour is threatening to force a vote on press regulation in parliament this month, deputy leader Harriet Harman has indicated that there may also be room for manoeuvre.

Last month she said government proposals to create a royal charter for a new press watchdog are akin to Dolly the sheep, the first animal to be cloned from a cell.

But she also admitted that Labour was not ruling out agreeing with the government's plan to introduce a charter in conjunction with a statute.

A draft version of the charter was distributed to newspaper groups, political parties and Hacked Off before Christmas, but the final draft, complete with details on how a verifying body would work, has yet to be distributed.

Brian Cathcart, associate director of Hacked Off, said: "We have no idea what has been going on and what the delay is. We have given an undertaking to look at this and consider it. The whole system is blocked. It's hardly suprirsing in the Lords that there is deep frustration at what is going on, or what has not been going on."

Frustration in the Lords at the lack of progress over the Leveson report has led four peers to table measures to introduce a low-cost arbitration service for defamation, as recommended by Lord Justice Leveson.

These were due to be debated after 3.15pm on Tuesday afternoon in the Lords.

• To contact the MediaGuardian news desk email media@guardian.co.uk or phone 020 3353 3857. For all other inquiries please call the main Guardian switchboard on 020 3353 2000. If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly "for publication".

• To get the latest media news to your desktop or mobile, follow MediaGuardian on Twitter and Facebook