Overnight talks between representative of the three major political parties have resulted in an agreement to regulate the press in the wake of the Leveson enquiry, according to the Labour party’s Deputy Leader Harriet Harman.
Talks were held between Labour’s Ed Miliband, Liberal Democrat Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg and Cabinet Office minister Oliver Letwin.
According to Ms Harman, speaking in an interview earlier today (March 18th), both Labour and the Liberal Democrats have accepted a watered-down version of their demands for full legal underpinning of a royal charter establishing a new watchdog.
Lord Justice Leveson’s inquiry into press ethics in the wake of the phone-hacking scandal called for a new, independent regulator backed by legislation, which prompted months of political wrangling.
Prime Minister David Cameron had opposed setting up a legal watchdog to curb press activity but the other leaders argued ferociously for one. Having walked away from talks last week, Mr Cameron had initially said that there would be a vote in the Commons today on the subject but that will not now go ahead, although Peers will be asked to agree on a “small piece of legislation” this afternoon to prevent the charter “being tampered with” by ministers.
Ms Harman said that there is an amendment going forward into the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill, which says that where a charter says it cannot be dissolved or amended without a two-thirds majority in both Houses, then that should have the force of law.
She added that the amendment specifically will not mention this charter because the idea is that Labour and the Lib Dems want to have that effect without it actually mentioning press regulation in law.