Leveson Inquiry

Luciana Berger Excerpts

Thursday 29th November 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

The hon. Gentleman and I have had this exchange countless times. He still struggles to get coalition. His party did not win the election, and my party did not win the election, so we have a Government of two parties that must compromise. That is different from previous one-party Governments. It might lead to anomalies, glitches and innovations in this venerable place that he finds unwelcome, but that is the reality of coalition government. I suspect it will be repeated quite a lot in future.

[Luciana Berger (Liverpool, Wavertree) (Lab/Co-op)]

What actions will the Deputy Prime Minister and his Government take if newspapers do not establish the new system?

[The Deputy Prime Minister]

It is incredibly important that the newspaper industry heeds what hon. Members have said and what the Prime Minister has said forcefully—that the ball is now in its court to make the first move of showing that it can propose a self-regulatory institution, which would be independently verified in one way or another as soon as possible. It would be an extraordinary failure if the press did not take up that opportunity and respond to Lord Justice Leveson’s invitation for its own good. Everybody who cares about our great British press knows that the public need to be reassured that it will abide by higher standards in future.