Media: Press Regulation

Lord Ryder of Wensum Excerpts

Thursday 14th February 2013 Lords Chamber

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, I am positive that the politicians who are working on this are going into the matter with good will. As I have said before, this is a draft document. I would not pretend that it was a final version, as I said yesterday, and I very much hope that the politicians who are attending these talks today and in the coming days will bear in mind what noble Lords, and others outside this Chamber, have said.

[Lord Ryder of Wensum]

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that, under the terms of the BBC charter, executives of the BBC can neither nominate nor veto members of the governing board of the BBC? Is he further aware that this principle also applies in the commercial sector in relation to Ofcom? Indeed, it was well recognised in the Leveson report that there had to be that separation of powers—that proper independence—and it became one of Leveson’s principal recommendations. So why has the Conservative Party flouted that recommendation in the document that it published yesterday?

[Lord Gardiner of Kimble]

My Lords, this draft royal charter is a vehicle for setting up an oversight body with robust recognition criteria. There are many examples of royal charters. Indeed, the BBC was set up for a different purpose.