Freedom of the Press

Part of Orders of the Day — Trade Union and Labour Relations (Amendment) Bill – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 6 November 1975.

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Photo of Mr James Prior Mr James Prior , Lowestoft 12:00, 6 November 1975

I was about to quote from a quotation I used during the Committee stage of this Bill in January of this year. This is a passage from a letter I received: I should add to that the thought that freedom of speech, which is the public civil right that newspapers exercise as freedom of the Press, is too important to be left to the quite imperfect control of contemporary industrial relations machinery. It is pretty inefficient at industrial relations, let alone protecting freedom of speech."—Official Report, Standing Committee E, 16th January 1975; c. 155.] That is a fairly true reflection of the issue with which we have to concern ourselves today.

The Secretary of State began by saying that there was no need for a charter or anything to be written into the Bill in any way. He would have had a charter outside the Bill. Then their Lordships, under the auspices of Lord Houghton, put a charter into the Bill. From having taken the view that their Lordships should keep their lordly noses out of the affair the right hon. Gentleman has been glad, recently, to have those lordly noses interfering. There is already exceptional treatment for the Press in a possible closed shop situation. We have breached the principle of non-interference. No one is suggesting that in dealing with a closed shop situation in the engineering industry, the ball-bearing industry or any other industry, we should have a specific charter drawn up.

The House agrees that there should be a charter to protect the interests of outside contributors to the Press. We note that the situation in the Press is now the subject of exceptional treatment. In laying down the charter, are we making any impact if we do not impose an obligation that the charter should be kept, and, if the charter is not being kept, that the injured party should be the recipient of damages? That is the crucial issue. In previous debates the right hon. Gentleman made out the greater part of his case on that issue.

The Opposition accept much of the argument on the closed shop. However, we believe that the Press is an exception. If there is to be a charter, it must be backed by a remedy. I do not use the word "sanction"; I prefer the word "remedy". There is no point in having the charter unless, when the charter is broken, there is a remedy for the aggrieved person. The Secretary of State maintains that that is the wrong way.

It is extraordinary how keen the Labour Party is to legislate on practically every subject except one of this importance and character, which involves the rights and freedom of an individual and the rights of the Press. I do not understand the position of the right hon. Gentleman. Today he spent a good deal of time attempting to stir up opinion against legal provisions. I hope that he has read what Lord Wigoder said in another place on that matter.

In the past, the National Union of Journalists accepted the provisions of the Industrial Relations Act on the question of the ballot. The NUJ agreed to register under the Act. There is no strong feeling in the NUJ against the provisions which we suggest and which the other place has written into the Bill. I do not understand why the right hon. Gentleman said that it would not be possible to draw up a satisfactory charter if the legal powers were included beforehand. He said that the NUJ, the majority of whose members are sensible men—