3rd December, 2012
By Liberty’s Shami Chakrabarti
A key adviser to Lord Justice Leveson has said his plan for compulsory press regulation would be illegal because it would breach the Human Rights Act.
The judge’s report recommended an independent self-regulatory body for the industry, backed up by legislation.
But Liberty’s Shami Chakrabarti said although she supported the principles of the Leveson report, she “got off the bus” at compulsory regulation.
Actor and campaigner Hugh Grant said reforms “simply won’t work without it.”
Lord Justice Leveson proposed creating a new, independent watchdog, but the debate over any legislation underpinning it has divided opinion.
Ms Chakrabarti, one of six assessors who worked on the Leveson Inquiry, told the BBC’s Andrew Marr programme she supported the “carrots and sticks” in the report, that meant newspapers who signed up to a new watchdog would be subject to lower penalties than those who did not.
“The bombshell, or the difference, is what do you do if people don’t join the club or don’t set up a club. And Leveson doesn’t want compulsory regulation of the press, but he says if they don’t play ball, politicians may have to consider it. That is where I get off the bus,” she said.
She told the Mail on Sunday that, in a democracy, regulation of the press and imposing standards on it must be voluntary.
“A compulsory statute to regulate media ethics in the way the report suggests would violate the act, and I cannot support it.”
Create a process to “validate” the independence and effectiveness of the new self-regulation body.
Validate a new process of independent arbitration for complainants, which would benefit both the public and publishers by providing speedy resolutions.
Place a duty on government to protect the freedom of press
Establish a body to regulate the press directly
Give any Parliament or government rights to interfere with what newspapers publish
How new regulator might work
However deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said she did not think Ms Chakrabarti was right.
“What Leveson proposes is actually quite similar to the Irish system, and the Irish are passionate supporters of the European Convention on Human Rights, and their system, which is backed by law, has not fallen foul from the European Convention, so she was wrong about that,” she told the BBC’s Sunday Politics show.
Mrs. Harman said Labour was “absolutely not proposing that public authority should interfere with the freedom of the press.”
“What we’re backing is Leveson’s proposal that there should be an independent redress system for complaints from people who actually say that the editors have breached their own code, but that independent system should be guaranteed by law,” she said.
Labour leader Ed Miliband has said Prime Minister David Cameron must back Lord Justice Leveson’s proposal by Christmas.
If Mr. Cameron has not signed up by then, Mr. Miliband says he will pull out of cross-party talks.
Mr. Miliband told the Observer the prime minister had “one last chance to show leadership” or Labour would begin rallying for a Commons vote in January, which could see Mr. Cameron defeated.
The prime minister has indicated he has “serious concerns and misgivings” about legislation to regulate the press.
Chancellor George Osborne told the BBC he did not think Labour should be setting a deadline.
He said Ms. Chakrabarti had spoken “very powerfully about the risks of legislation” and it was important that the parties continued talking to find a consensus.
“This is a very complicated issue and we have got to get it right,” he said.
Conservative MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the Commons Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee, has called for self-regulation rather than new laws, saying legislation could stifle free speech.
“As people come to think about this carefully, they will realise the dangers of going down this road,” he said.
However, shadow chancellor Ed Balls told the Andrew Marr show Mr Cameron should “get on and do it.”
“I’m somebody who was always very sceptical about imposing statutory legislation on the press but that’s not what Leveson did,” he said.
Also appearing on the programme, actor Hugh Grant claimed Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations were “mild” and branded Mr. Cameron’s position “very close to disgraceful.”
He spoke of his “astonishment” at Mr. Cameron’s “betrayal” by declaring there was no need for statutory underpinning.
Campaign group Hacked Off, which represents people who have been victims of press intrusion, is running a petition for Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations to be carried out in full. It now has about 100,000 signatures.
David Cameron will attend a meeting on Tuesday with Culture Secretary Maria Miller and newspaper editors.
Meanwhile, Alex Salmond has invited opposition party leaders to discuss how Lord Justice Leveson’s report into press standards could be implemented in Scotland.
The first minister will hold talks with his fellow MSPs on Thursday in an attempt to find “cross-party consensus” on a new system of press regulation.