Defamation Bill — Commons Reasons

Part of the debate – in the House of Lords at 3:33 pm on 23 April 2013.

Alert me about debates like this

Photo of Lord Lester of Herne Hill Lord Lester of Herne Hill Liberal Democrat 3:33, 23 April 2013

My Lords, first I would say that we often refer to Fox's Libel Act. I hope that when this Bill becomes law it will be referred to as Lord McNally's Libel Act, because he above all has had the energy to drive it forward. He said at one stage that he would not allow the Bill to be overwhelmed by what he called the tsunami of Leveson. The reason why I strongly support Motion A is because it provides a way of avoiding being overwhelmed by the tsunami of Leveson. It removes what I consider to be unnecessary hostage-taking in some amendments to the Defamation Bill. It has now been freed in the Commons, and therefore I strongly support it. I have some difficulty with the reason, in a sense, because it says that,

"the draft Royal Charter ... and ... the Crime and Courts Bill and the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill will be sufficient to implement the recommendations in Lord Justice Leveson's report".

I think that is completely true. Whether Lord Justice Leveson's report will eventually pass muster is quite another question, but that is not to be debated now.