Labour bid for ‘Leveson two’ inquiry voted down by Tory MPs

Today the government saw off Labour’s bid to implement the second part of the Leveson inquiry into press standards.

An amendment to the Data Protection Bill, tabled by a cross-party group of MPs and backed by the Labour Party, was narrowly defeated in the Commons on Wednesday afternoon.

In spite of a passionate speech given by Ed Miliband, who moved the amendment, the government won by 304 votes to 295.

Labour’s Tom Watson has campaigned in favour of tougher press standards over many years. He called today’s vote on Leveson 2 “a question of honour”.

Commenting on the vote, the Shadow Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport said: “The Tories’ shameless capitulation to press barons leaves the victims of phone hacking ever further from reaching the truth.

“No criminal investigation or trial has ever looked at the core questions that Leveson 2 posed: how the relationship between the press, police and politicians allowed the hacking scandal to happen and attempt to cover it up.

“Today was a chance for MPs to finally deliver on promises made to victims of hacking and press intrusion. That chance has been squandered and victims have been betrayed once again.”

The Leveson inquiry into the culture and ethics of the press, prompted by the phone hacking scandal in 2011, was intended to be carried out in two parts.

The first part looked broadly at the culture and ethics of the press and made a number of recommendations for regulation. The second planned to look into specific allegations and failings, however it was delayed pending criminal prosecutions regarding events at the now defunct News of the World.

After the publication of part one in 2012, the then Prime Minister David Cameron said” “One of the things that the victims have been most concerned about is part two of the investigation should go ahead… It is right that it should go ahead and that is fully our intention.”

However the Conservative Party’s 2017 manifesto stated that the second part of the inquiry would be dropped entirely. Culture Secretary Matt Hancock confirmed this position earlier this year, arguing that the press has cleaned up its act and that to re-open the inquiry would harm press freedom.

Although today’s amendment was supported by the Labour Party and five rebel Tory backbenchers including Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve, it was defeated by 304 votes to 295 thanks to support from the DUP.