Oral Answers to Questions

Tony Baldry Excerpts

Thursday 31st October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Vaizey]

I hear what my hon. Friend says. BT is a big global company that we should be proud of, but from time to time issues will be raised by our constituents. I am happy to meet him to discuss the problem in detail.

[Sir Tony Baldry (Banbury) (Con)]

3. What plans she has in place if newspaper proprietors do not sign up to the Privy Council’s royal charter for regulating the press.

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

All sides support self-regulation of the press. The royal charter sets out the principles for self-regulators if they wish to be recognised and take advantage of costs and damages incentives. The choice to sign up lies with the industry.

[Sir Tony Baldry]

I am grateful to my right hon. Friend for that answer. We are here because Lord Justice Leveson said that he wanted a new voluntary code from the press that had statutory underpinning. The press have come forward with a new draft code that does not have statutory underpinning and the Privy Council has come forward with a code that appears not to have press support. Would it not be helpful if Lord Justice Leveson gave us all a steer on what he thinks should happen now?

[Maria Miller]

I will, of course, leave it to Lord Justice Leveson to speak for himself on whether he wants to contribute further to the debate, but I can say clearly to my hon. Friend that the essence of the Leveson report was self-regulation. I believe that we now have a way forward that will safeguard the freedom of the press and provide a good system of redress when errors are made. It is important to make the royal charter work; it is the best way to stave off the statutory regulation of the press that some are trying to impose.