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Nick Clegg
Nick Clegg said the whole point of the Leveson design was 'to avoid heavy-handed state regulation and government going in with both boots and imposing things'. Photograph: Barcroft Media
Nick Clegg said the whole point of the Leveson design was 'to avoid heavy-handed state regulation and government going in with both boots and imposing things'. Photograph: Barcroft Media

Nick Clegg urges newspapers to accept press regulation proposals

This article is more than 11 years old
Deputy prime minister says he hopes press will accept that proposed system is one of self-regulation with incentives

Nick Clegg has appealed to newspapers to join the new system of press regulation, saying he hoped they would accept that it was one of self-regulation with incentives.

The deputy prime minister said some in the industry had reacted in a "slightly melodramatic" way to the proposals, which were agreed in parliament on Monday.

Speaking on LBC radio, he said: "Of course I understand how passions run strong on this subject but I do hope, as the dust settles, people will see that what we adhered to across parties and with an overwhelming majority in parliament is the basic design of Leveson of self-regulation with incentives."

It was the first time Clegg had commented since parliament backed a royal charter, exemplary damages and a proposal to underpin the charter by a form of statute. Large sections of the newspaper industry have indicated that they are unlikely to co-operate, leaving parliament and the coalition with a dilemma over how to respond.

The Liberal Democrat leader said: "The whole point of the Leveson design is to avoid heavy-handed state regulation and government going in with both boots and imposing things. The aim was to create a system of incentives, and those incentives are: for those newspapers who don't participate in the system the courts will be able to impose exemplary costs and damages." He described this as a "pounds and pence incentive".

He denied that the late-night meeting in Ed Miliband's office on Sunday attended by members of Hacked Off – but not the press – was a critical moment in the talks. The presence of the campaign group for victims of press intrusion, Oliver Letwin, Clegg and Miliband has led to claims that the media were excluded from the decisive summit.

He said the meeting "had focused on technical legal definitions of what represented exemplary damages. It dealt with a tiny, tiny piece of the jigsaw – how you define exemplary damages. It was about filling in one piece of the canvas."

He said there had been many other meetings with the newspaper industry, including a large number that Hacked Off had not attended.

He said: "The central and only point that was remaining late on being discussed on Sunday night – and by the way I left before midnight – was this highly technical and legalistic argument of the wording on exemplary damages.

"If this was the great papal conclave where everything was resolved from top to bottom then of course everyone should be there or frankly no one should be there – neither the press nor Hacked Off."

He said he did not know who had asked Hacked Off to the meeting.

Clegg said the old regulatory system under the Press Complaints Commission "had descended into a complete farce because the newspapers that got into trouble was judge and jury on itself".

"In some senses they have reacted in a slightly melodramatic manner. The model of Leveson to which we adhere remains self-regulation, but self-regulation that you can believe in.

"We are not imposing regulations on the press; we are saying the press set up a self-regulation system but that body is checked every two or three years to ensure it is really independent of the press and is a system that can help innocent people who have been unjustifiably bullied and intimidated so they have a recourse."

More on this story

More on this story

  • Press regulation has become a mess, says Economist editor – video

  • Economist editor: poor conduct by some journalists is price of free press

  • The Economist calls press regulation deal 'a shameful hash'

  • Press regulation: Murdoch attacks Cameron and hits out at 'holy mess'

  • Newspapers split over press regulator

  • Press regulation has become a mess, says Economist editor – video

  • The Spectator says NO to the new press regulator

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