Politicians reject press regulation plan

Ministers have rejected press plans for post-Leveson regulation of the press.

14:44 08 October 2013

Proposals by newspapers to set up their own regulator following the widespread phone hacking scandal have failed after a group of ministers rejected them.

The decision was made yesterday by a meeting of a sub-committee of the Privy Council, which is tasked to approve new royal charters.

The proposal was ratified by unanimous vote of the full Privy Council. The final decision is expected to be announced formally.

A source said that the sub-committee of the Privy Council thought that the proposals were “flawed.”

However, sub-committee chair Danny Alexander insisted that decision is yet to be made.  He added that the sub-committee met on Monday and that the full Privy team will meet on Wednesday to consider the proposal. However, BBC political editor Nick Robinson said that ministers “do look set to reject” the form of regulation put forward by the newspapers.

Press regulation options are being taken into consideration following the Leveson Inquiry after journalists who were working for the now-closed News of the World had hacked into the mobile phone of murdered Surrey schoolgirl Milly Dowler.

This resulted to the outcry from the British public and revealed similar hacking cases which contributed to the closure of the newspaper. It also led to the range of investigations into phone hacking and media ethics in British Media.