Over on the Guardian’s Comment Is Free site, deputy prime minister Nick Clegg has penned a piece to coincide with the government’s publication of a draft Defamation Bill, which proposes significant changes to Britain’s libel laws.

Here’s some of what he has to say:

London is the number one destination for libel tourism, where foreign claimants bring cases against foreign defendants to our courts – even when the connection with England is tenuous at best. It is a farce that has prompted Barack Obama to legislate to protect his citizens from rulings in our courts.

These laws make a mockery of British justice. They kill debate and smother scientific inquiry. They undermine our moral authority as we seek to promote the values of an open society in other parts of the world.

And it is ordinary people who really suffer: protecting their interests means ensuring corruption can be unearthed and charlatans exposed. Of course, individual citizens must be able to protect their reputations from false and damaging claims, and we cannot allow companies to be the victims of damaging, untrue and malicious statements.

But from the humble blogger to the consumer watchdog, corporate whistleblower, medical researcher, or roving reporter, public-spirited voices must be heard.

So the coalition government has published a bill that will transform England’s libel laws. These are the reforms the Liberal Democrats fought hard for in opposition.

We are levelling the playing field, creating new protections for those seeking to speak out – including, crucially, a new statutory “public interest” defence for use in libel cases. And no action will be successful unless the claimant can prove the allegedly defamatory statements have caused them real harm.

We are addressing libel tourism by tightening the rules so that it is much harder to bring overseas claims to our courts when there is little connection to the UK. If such a link can’t be demonstrated our judges will simply turn the case away.

The bill will update the law so that, finally, it will reflect the realities of the internet. A new “single publication rule” will mean repeat claims cannot be made every time a publication is accessed online. And we want to go further – we have also launched a consultation calling for views on changing the law to better protect “secondary publishers”, like discussion forums and internet service providers. They must not be unfairly targeted for content over which they have no control.

You can read Nick’s piece in full here.