Government will support Labour's motion for Murdoch to withdraw his bid to takeover BSkyB
The Government has agreed to support a Labour motion demanding Rupert Murdoch give up his takeover bid for BSkyB.
Labour leader Ed Miliband is to meet David Cameron and Nick Clegg tonight to discuss the News of the World phone hacking scandal.
The meeting comes ahead of a vote in the Commons tomorrow on News Corporation's bid for BSkyB.
The motion tabled by Miliband states that "this house believes that it is in the public interest for Rupert Murdoch and News Corporation to withdraw their bid for BSkyB".
Miliband said today: "There are times when the House of Commons has got to rise to the occasion and speak for the public.
"We have said that the purchase of BSkyB should not proceed until after criminal inquiries are complete.
"The simplest way to achieve this is for Rupert Murdoch to recognise the feelings of the public and the will of the House of Commons and withdraw this bid.
"I am calling on Parliament to show its will tomorrow."
On Monday, Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt referred News Corp's bid to the Competition Commission.
News Corp had withdrawn concessions to the Government over the BSkyB bid, which included spinning off Sky News as a separate company.
Analysts say this is proof that Murdoch is prepared to wait for buy the broadcast company.
The proposed takeover looked promising until new phone hacking allegations emerged last week.
The Government had extended the public consultation on the proposed takeover and received over 100,000 submissions in a just a week.
The Competition Commission would have been likely to take at least six months before reaching a decision on the deal.
In a separate move, News Corp has announced it is to spend $5 billion repurchasing shares from shareholders over the next 12 months.