Oral Answers to Questions

Ben Bradshaw Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mrs Grant]

As I have said repeatedly, the future of these machines is not set in stone, there is no green light for fixed odds betting terminals and their future will be kept carefully under review.

[Mr Ben Bradshaw (Exeter) (Lab)]

6. When she expects the Privy Council to consider the political parties’ proposals for a Royal Charter on press regulation; and if she will make a statement

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Maria Miller)]

As the right hon. Member will be aware, the royal charter was granted yesterday. A copy will be placed in the Libraries of both Houses shortly.

[Mr Bradshaw]

Given the endemic misreporting of this issue by the press itself—including, I am afraid, by the Financial Times, which claimed this week that the right hon. Lady was going to break the all-party consensus and support the non-Leveson-compliant PressBoF charter—will the Secretary of State now explain for all our benefits what she thinks will happen next?

[Maria Miller]

It is a complicated issue, which explains the difficulties in the reporting of it. The royal charter has been put in place. More importantly, as the House should recognise, the press is well down the road of setting up the self-regulatory mechanism that it needs to move forward. That should be applauded, and the whole House should welcome it.