Chris Bryant
Main Page: Chris Bryant (Labour - Rhondda and Ogmore)(11 years, 9 months ago)
Commons ChamberRead Full debate Read Hansard Text
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Maria Miller
I can absolutely give my hon. Friend that undertaking. We believe that we can achieve the ends and principles that Leveson set out without taking a statutory approach, and the royal charter document that we published yesterday gives us grounds to believe that that is fully achievable.
Chris Bryant (Rhondda) (Lab)
I draw Members’ attention to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. The real problem with the royal charter process is that it is the most autocratic tool in any Government’s weaponry, because it is easily changed at will by a Government, and no Government can bind their successors unless that is underpinned by statute. Will most people not think that this is a pretty shabby deal between the Government and proprietors, as the Government promised last year that they would publish the details of all meetings with proprietors by Cabinet Ministers, but they have not done so since last June? Must they not publish before tomorrow’s meeting the details of all their meetings with proprietors?
Maria Miller
The hon. Gentleman knows that all those sorts of meetings are published in the usual way.