I am very aware of time scales and if the hon. Gentleman could bear with me for 30 seconds longer, we might be able to move from this section to the next section.
Moreover, the amendments were tabled at a time when cross-party talks were well under way to identify an agreed response to Leveson’s recommendations, including careful efforts to develop a set of workable criteria for the self-regulatory body. The amendments before us pre-empted the outcome of those talks. As the House will be aware, on 18 March cross-party talks were resolved successfully and a draft royal charter was agreed as a vehicle by which the recognition body should be set up. Detailed criteria by which self-regulators would be assessed were also agreed, and provisions to enact Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations on incentives in costs and exemplary damages have subsequently
been included in the Crime and Courts Bill. Further, a “no change” clause has been included in the Enterprise and Regulatory Reform Bill as a safeguard against political intervention with the royal charter.
I note that my hon. Friend the hon. Member for Worthing West (Sir Peter Bottomley) has tabled a motion to agree with amendment 16, which introduces a requirement for an independent regulatory body to provide an arbitration service. I should like to reassure my hon. Friend and this House that the recognition criteria contained within the agreed draft royal charter include just that. To retain amendment 16 in the Bill, alongside the provisions within the royal charter, risks creating duplication and uncertainty around these requirements. The package of measures identified to enact Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations have cross-party support. As Lord Puttnam, who tabled these amendments, said:
“Nothing in the world will delight me more than to see the Defamation Bill pass in its original form.”—[Official Report, House of Lords, 25 March 2013; Vol. 744, c. 880.]
On that basis, I hope that the House will agree to the removal of Lords amendments 1, 15 and 16.
I also ask the House to disagree with Lords amendment 2. A motion to that effect has been tabled by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for Harborough (Sir Edward Garnier). The amendment concerns two distinct but related issues, which have already featured extensively in debates in both Houses during the passage of the Bill.