Every week, Liberal Democrat Secretary of State for Scotland Michael Moore writes a column for newspapers in his Borders constituency. Here’s this week’s edition.
St Andrew’s Day
Last week, as Secretary of State for Scotland, I gave the inaugural speech in the annual St Andrew’s Day Address which is being established this year at the Scotland Office in London. This annual Address will see individuals in business, education, politics, media, charities and the arts speaking to an audience in London about Scotland and what it means to them. I used the first speech as an opportunity to celebrate our identity as Scots which I believe has flourished within the UK.
I am a proud Scot with a very British family and background: I was born in Northern Ireland, brought up in Scotland and I am married to someone from England. In my experience of Scottish life I know that the ties that bind us are strong and enduring and we have a clear sense of self, of identity and of nation. Because of this, I don’t believe we need to leave the United Kingdom, which we help to shape, to be Scottish.
I know that many of us here in the Borders are proud of our multiple identities as Borderers, Scots and as Brits and believe we are better together as a family of nations. The history and heritage we share as part of the UK runs deep and I outlined in my speech last week that three hundred years as part of the UK should not discarded casually as we head towards the independence referendum in 2014.
Leveson
The Leveson inquiry was set up by the Prime Minister last year following the shocking allegations of the hacking of Milly Dowler’s phone. Last week, Lord Leveson published the results of his inquiry into the culture, practices and ethics of the press which included recommendations on the future of press regulation and governance.
There has been a lot of concern that Lord Justice Leveson’s recommendations could damage the freedom of the press here in the UK. As a Liberal Democrat, who believes in a vigorous free press that holds the powerful to account, I am pleased to say that Lord Justice Leveson’s report has rightly ruled out any state regulation of the press. However, to make sure that newspapers comply with the rules and ensure the vulnerable are protected from press abuses, the report suggests a system that makes it strongly in the paper’s interests to sign up to a new, independent watchdog. The Liberal Democrats believe this is the right thing to do and we will be working in Government to secure this aim.
* Michael Moore was the Liberal Democrat MP for Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk from 1997-2015 and Secretary of State for Scotland from 2010-2013.
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2 Comments
I will repeat myself – if Dave Cameron wants to disregard the only “new” thing to come out of the Leveson Report, i.e. the bit about a legal back-stop on the PCC (or whatever its new name is) he should pay for it. Aafter all we all knew about the phone hacking, the close relationship between press, police and politicians, we all knew about the bad behaviour of the pack. The only new bit is the legal part. If DC wants to disregard this, he should be made to personally pay (out of his own deep pocket) for all the costs of the enquiry – probably several million quid. That might just get him to recognise that Lord Justice Leveson did not call for regulation of the press per se, but for regulation of the regulators, so they can’t break the rules they set in place, as they have done SEVEN times before. X Maggie X
“As a Liberal Democrat, who believes in a vigorous free press that holds the powerful to account, I am pleased to say that Lord Justice Leveson’s report has rightly ruled out any state regulation of the press. However, to make sure that newspapers comply with the rules and ensure the vulnerable are protected from press abuses, the report suggests a system that makes it strongly in the paper’s interests to sign up to a new, independent watchdog. The Liberal Democrats believe this is the right thing to do and we will be working in Government to secure this aim.”
Leaving aside the fact that Leveson obviously didn’t rule out state regulation of the press as a ‘backstop’, this sounds like a further indication that the party leadership is not going to support any compulsory regulation, doesn’t it?