Philip Davies
Main Page: Philip Davies (Conservative - Shipley)Department Debates - View all Philip Davies's debates with the Attorney General
(12 years, 11 months ago)
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Philip Davies (Shipley) (Con)
Surely, we cannot have a situation in which celebrities court positive publicity to gain sponsorship and other endorsements and then rush to take out super-injunctions when negative publicity comes their way. There are not many cases of people taking out injunctions regarding positive publicity. Does the Attorney-General therefore agree that what we do not need are more privacy laws, of which we seem to have plenty at the moment, and that we need freedom-of-speech and freedom-of-the-press laws?
The Attorney-General
May I say to my hon. Friend that our laws already provide very substantial protection for the freedom of the press? The question arises as to how a balance should be struck. Even before the operation of the Human Rights Act, the power of the courts to protect the vulnerable and children, for example, was well established in our law. In that sense it is not a novelty. That balance is always going to be a subject of legitimate debate and I hope that, as a result of the steps that the Government are taking, that debate will take place.