Dowlers condemn response to Leveson (From Herald Series)
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Dowlers condemn response to Leveson
5:56pm Saturday 16th March 2013 in National News © Press Association 2013
David Cameron said the three major parties were in a 'much better place' over plans for press regulation
Ed Miliband has urged MPs to "stand up for the victims" of press abuse by enshrining a new press regulator in law in a crunch Commons vote.
"Monday is the day that politics has got to do the duty by the victims and has got to stand up for the victims," he told The Observer.
"I think it is an important moment because we have had decades of failing to ensure that we have a system of press complaints and redress which means that ordinary people aren't left at the whim of a sometimes abusive press."
Rival proposals for a new system of newspaper self-regulation will face judgment tomorrow in a high-stakes battle over the response to the phone-hacking scandal.
In a reversal of the Westminster status quo, Labour and the Liberal Democrats are lining up against the Conservatives in a coalition for a tougher regime. Both sides propose using a royal charter to create a new watchdog body in response to the recommendations of the Leveson Inquiry into abuses by the press.
But the Lib/Lab version involves underpinning the system in legislation, something which has been opposed by Prime Minister David Cameron as a risk to press freedom. It also rules out a veto for the press over the membership of the watchdog and gives the regulator the power to enforce the publication of prominent apologies.
Mr Cameron - who dramatically pulled the plug on cross-party talks on Thursday - has said he will abide by the will of parliament.
Without an overall Commons majority, allies accept he is unlikely to win sufficient support for using the threat of punitive damages against non-participants to persuade papers to sign up.
Despite efforts to shore up the vote - including bringing a minister hack from Japan - a number of Tories are expected to back the Lib/Lab proposals.
Mr Cameron insists his proposal is "the fastest possible way to deliver the strong self-regulation body that Leveson proposed that can put in place million-pound fines, prominent apologises and get justice for victims in this country".
