A deal is reported to be close to agreement between the three main parties on the future of press regulation after overnight talks on a new press watchdog were held between Nick Clegg, Ed Miliband, and a senior Tory minister.
Labour and the Lib Dems had been pushing for a new, independent regulator backed by legislation as proposed by Lord Justice Leveson, but the Conservatives had maintained that the future should be a Royal Charter governing the press with no statutory underpinning.
It appears that some form of watered down legislation will underpin the Royal Charter, with all sides coming to a compromise. This “compromise clause” will be added to the enterprise and regulatory reform bill that will be tabled in the Lords later, and does not mention any specific charter, Leveson, or the press. It will, however, set out that the charter itself cannot be altered in the future without a “super majority” of two-thirds agreement in both the Commons and the Lords.
The result of this compromise clause is that Labour and the Lib Dems can claim success in gaining statutory underpinning for the law, whilst the Conservatives can also claim that there will be little effective parliamentary oversight that could undermine the freedom of the press and the legislation is simply a “no change law”.
David Cameron, Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg are meeting this morning to discuss the finer details of the agreement.
