Cameron forces press reform vote; 'Betrayal of abuse victims' claim.
Byline: EXAMINER News Correspondent [email protected]DAVID Cameron has dramatically pulled the plug on efforts to reach cross-party consensus on press regulation, announcing he will bring the matter to a head by forcing a vote in the House of Commons on Monday.
In a move which surprised both Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg, the Prime Minister said he will publish a Royal Charter to underpin a new self-regulatory system for the press without the need for parliamentary legislation.
Mr Cameron was accused of a "shameless betrayal of vic-tims of press abuse" by the Hacked Off campaign, which is pushing for full implementation of last year's Leveson Report recommendations, including an independent regulator underpinned by statute. But he insisted that the Conservative proposals provided "the fastest possible way" to deliver "the toughest press regulation that this country has ever seen".
And his initiative was welcomed by representatives of some of the UK's biggest newspaper groups, who said they shared the PM's frustration at the cross-party talks being "hijacked" by advocates of legislation.
Both Labour and Liberal Democrats said they will "reach out" to Tory MPs to build cross-party agreement ahead of Monday's vote, but it remained unclear whether they will table a rival amendment to legislate for press regulation.
The PM's amendment to the Crime and Courts Bill will not provide statutory underpinning for the new regulator, but will allow courts to impose "exemplary damages" on newspapers which refuse to sign up to the system. He regards this financial incentive as central to his Royal Charter scheme, and it is thought unlikely that he would press ahead with it if he loses Monday's vote.
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| GESTURE: The PM announces press talks had concluded without agreement
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| Publication: | Huddersfield Daily Examiner (Huddersfield, England) |
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| Date: | Mar 15, 2013 |
| Words: | 287 |
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