Leveson: Parties Reach Deal But Row Over Clause

The three main political parties have reached a deal on how to regulate the press - but Labour and the Tories have become embroiled in a war of words over who has emerged on top from the fraught negotiations.

The details have been emerging in a House of Commons debate of a royal charter that will be used to create an independent regulator which will have more powers to deal with the press if it breaks the rules.

Prime Minister David Cameron, who applied for an emergency debate on the reforms, has been clear he is very uncomfortable with the idea of setting anything down in law because it could be seen as politicians meddling with the press.

However, it is understood a compromise has been reached to include three lines of statute - a clause in the legislation to ensure that any royal charter cannot be amended in the future without two-thirds majorities in both Houses of Parliament.

There will be no industry veto of who sits on the regulator, and judges will have the power to direct newspapers on apologies.

But the main point of contention - whether or not it should be underpinned by law - seems to be a matter of interpretation, and has triggered a dispute about the degree of statutory regulation.

The row centres on a clause being inserted into the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill in the Lords later.

It does not explicitly refer to the royal charter that will establish the new press arrangements - but Labour and the Liberal Democrats argue the effect would be the same.

Labour leader Ed Miliband and Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat leader Nick Clegg claim the deal is based on their plans for a royal charter underpinned by law, so that it cannot be watered down or changed.

But Mr Cameron, who addressed Conservative MPs ahead of the Commons showdown - disagrees.

He told a meeting of his parliamentary party in Westminster that he had "called the bluff" of Mr Miliband, according to a senior Downing Street source.

The PM insisted that dramatically pulling the plug on the talks last week had forced Labour and Lib Dems to "flesh out their positions".

He has denied the new press regulations will have "statutory underpinning", and insists the agreement on a royal charter, struck in the early hours of this morning, avoids the need for a law to control newspapers.

He said: "It's not statutory underpinning. What it is, is simply a clause that says politicians can't fiddle with this so it takes it further away from politicians, which is actually, I think, a sensible step.

"What we wanted to avoid and we have avoided is a press law. Nowhere will it say what this body is, what it does, what it can't do, what the press can and can't do. That, quite rightly, is being kept out of Parliament.

"So no statutory underpinning but a safeguard that says politicians can't in future fiddle with this arrangement."

He added: "What's happened is that everyone has accepted my argument for a royal charter. Why does that matter? Well I thought it was important to avoid a press law, a law that said the press can do this, the regulator's got to do that. That would be dangerous, that's not going to happen and that's what we secured and that's why this is a good deal."

But Mr Miliband said: "What we have agreed is essentially the royal charter that Nick Clegg and I published on Friday. It will be underpinned by statute ... because it stops ministers or the press meddling with it, watering it down in the future.

"It will be a regulator, a system of complaints where the regulator has teeth, can direct apologies ... and it is independent of the press.

"For too long we have had a system where the press have been marking their own homework. There has been a lot of tough negotiation in this process, but I genuinely believe this upholds the freedom of the press ... at the same time as protecting the victims.

"People who revealed MPs' expenses, people who revealed phone hacking have nothing to fear from what has been agreed."

The Conservatives, Labour and the Lib Dems are understood to have held talks for more than five hours.

Mr Cameron was not present but was represented by Oliver Letwin, who has been the key figure for the party in recent negotiations.

Mr Clegg told Sky News that in his opinion "everybody" was a winner. "We have secured the cherished principle of the freedom of the press, but also given innocent people reassurance that they won't be unjustifiably bullied or intimidated by powerful interests in the press without having proper recourse when that happens," he said.

Hacked Off, the group campaigning for victims of phone hacking, also welcomed the cross-party deal.

London bombing hero Paul Dadge told Sky News: "This isn't to stop stories in the newspapers in the future. This is to ensure that things that happened to me, the Dowler family, the McCanns, don't happen again in the future."

But Neil Wallis, former executive editor of the News Of The World, disagreed. "What these people want to do is to control what the public is told. And if you give the state legislation, what you have not got any longer is a free press." he said.

"You can't put those words in the same sentence - 'state regulation' and 'free press'. It simply stops."

Trevor Kavanagh, former political editor of The Sun, added: "Until we've examined the fine print we will have to hold our fire, but it's a little worrying when the three political parties get together and their final verdict is welcomed so enthusiastically by Hacked Off, which is definitely seeking to shackle and gag the free press."

Mr Cameron, who last week pulled out of talks about implementing Lord Justice Leveson's recommendations, previously warned that legislation would endanger press freedom.