Culture secretary concedes press regulation could be torn up by incoming government
Culture secretary Maria Miller has conceded that an incoming majority government on the next parliament could tear up nascent protections to prevent political interference in the regulation of the press.
Miller warned that a clause in the Royal Charter demanding that a two-thirds parliamentary majority be reached before changes can be enacted could be sidestepped.
The admission was made in response to claims by MPs that the safeguard was a ‘nonsense’ that MP’s could easily evade following the 2015 election.
Miller said: “Of course a government can pass laws and with a simple majority in the House of Commons can change anything it wants to change.
The remarks follow an earlier claim by Miller that campaign group Hacked Off had become a ‘destructive force’ that had wreaked ‘lasting damage’ on plans for a new system of press regulation.