Labour MPs suggested draconian measures could be introduced to regulate newspapers yesterday as the Culture Secretary said the Press would not be forced to sign up to the Royal Charter agreed by political parties and the Hacked Off lobby group.
Labour’s media spokesman Harriet Harman suggested ‘full-on statutory regulation’ could be considered if papers do not comply.
Other MPs called for the Government to find a ‘stick’ to beat the Press into line and said there would be a ‘clamour for something stronger’ if newspapers and magazines do not agree to the deal.
All three political parties agreed the new system that will use a Royal Charter to establish a watchdog to oversee a regulator set up by the Press, after late-night talks in Ed Miliband’s office last month.
Those who refuse to sign up to the body could be hit with exemplary damages in court cases.
But Culture Secretary Maria Miller told MPs that papers cannot be forced to join since Lord Justice Leveson had recommended a voluntary system of independent self-regulation.
She said: ‘The system set out by Lord Justice Leveson is not one of compulsion, it is one of incentives.
'You should be looking at the positive reasons for why the Press should want to be involved but equally respect that there may be some publications who do not believe this is right for them.’
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Mrs Miller claimed the reforms were ‘legally watertight’ and could be in place by the middle of next year.
FIERCE CRITICISM FOR REGULATION
Plans for statutory regulation of the Press came under fierce criticism yesterday from two respected international bodies representing more than 18,000 publications in 120 countries.
The World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers, and the World Editors’ Forum warned the proposed Royal Charter on the Press risks having a ‘devastating’ effect on global journalism.
They say the charter risks ‘abandoning more than 300 years of UK press freedom.’
The Spectator magazine has already said it will not agree to the new system of regulation.
Asked what would happen if the Press refuses to comply, Miss Harman said: ‘I’m just saying what Leveson said, that he was putting forward a system that was a framework within which there would be independent self-regulation but that if that didn’t transpire there would have to be full-on statutory regulation.’
She added: ‘I don’t want us to say you’ve got to do this, or we’ll do that,’ but she admitted it might look as if ‘a stick is being carried’ by politicians.
Miss Harman admitted that she had 27 meetings with Hacked Off – the campaign group of celebrities and privacy campaigners who claim to represent the victims of phone hacking – compared with 33 in total with different newspaper bosses.
Legislation setting the rules for how the Royal Charter will operate was nodded through the Commons without a vote last night.
Voluntary: Culture Secretary Maria Miller told MPs that papers cannot be forced to join the Royal Charter