Coalition is torn apart: Cameron talks of hung Parliament as Miliband and Clegg form alliance in bid to shackle free press

• Cameron pulls the plug on cross-party talks over Leveson proposals
• Miliband and Clegg agree to 'work together' to force law through Parliament
• Labour and Lib Dems expected to table 'beefed-up' amendments
  

By James Chapman

PUBLISHED: 18:09 EST, 14 March 2013 | UPDATED: 04:54 EST, 15 March 2013

The Coalition is heading for an unprecedented split after Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg forged an ‘unholy alliance’ to try to force through laws shackling Britain’s free Press.

David Cameron yesterday pulled the plug on cross-party talks over the Leveson proposals for media regulation.

He insisted he would not countenance a deal which would mean politicians being able to interfere with newspapers.

Torn apart: The Coalition is heading for an unprecedented split after Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg (pictured here with David Cameron in 2010) forged an alliance to try to force a 'Leveson law' through Parliament

The Prime Minister blamed a ‘hung Parliament’ for his inability to secure backing for his proposals for a Royal Charter for the Press, which would not require legislation – the first time since the general election in 2010 that he has used the phrase.

In an extraordinary foretaste of a potential Labour-Liberal Democrat coalition after 2015, Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg agreed to ‘work together’ to try to force some form of ‘Leveson law’ through Parliament.

Labour had threatened to hijack several key pieces of Government legislation, including one Bill designed to lift the red tape on business and boost the economy, if Mr Cameron did not back down.

Labour and the Lib Dems are now expected to table amendments in the Commons giving MPs the choice of a beefed-up version of Tory proposals for a Royal Charter, backed in law, or a full Bill implementing the recommendations of Lord Justice Leveson’s report. Mr Cameron lost patience overnight and told Mr Clegg and Mr Miliband in a ‘tense’ joint phone call yesterday morning that he saw no point in continuing cross-party talks.

Sources said Labour had produced ‘demand after demand’ apparently drawn up in close co-operation with the Hacked Off campaign group, which wants a Leveson law, and made clear it was prepared to wreck the Government’s entire legislative programme if it did not get its way.

The Prime Minister said his proposals for an independent body, established by Royal Charter like the BBC, to oversee the system of Press self-regulation would provide ‘the toughest regulation of the Press that this country has ever seen’.

The Prime Minister (left) pulled the plug on cross-party talks over the Leveson proposals for media regulation. Ed Miliband (right) has formed an 'alliance' with the Lib Dems to try to force a 'Leveson law' through Parliament

'Disappointed': Nick Clegg said he was 'disappointed and, indeed, surprised' Mr Cameron walked away from the cross-party talks

He said it was clear that newspapers could refuse to sign up to a system underpinned by statute, as recommended by Leveson and backed by Labour, Lib Dems and Hacked Off. ‘The route I have set out is the fastest possible way to deliver the strong self-regulation body that Leveson proposed that can put in place million-pound fines, prominent apologies and get justice for victims in this country,’ the Prime Minister said.

‘The deal is there to be done. It is the fastest way to get proper justice for victims. There’s no point in producing a system that the Press won’t take part in. As Prime Minister I wouldn’t be fulfilling my duty if I came up with something knowing that it wouldn’t work.’

Mr Clegg said: ‘I was disappointed and, indeed, surprised that David Cameron has decided to walk away from the cross-party talks, especially when they were making some real progress even as late as yesterday evening. This whole issue is a difficult one, striking the right balance between protecting the freedom of the Press, which is essential, but also protecting ordinary people from unwarranted harassment and bullying by the Press.’

Balance: Mr Clegg said it was 'difficult' to strike the balance between the freedom of the Press and 'protecting ordinary people from unwarranted harassment and bullying by the Press'

Mr Miliband said Labour and the Lib Dems ‘are determined to carry on working, reaching out to people from across all parties to get a solution that will deliver for the victims, and that will be done obviously through votes in Parliament’.

He added: ‘I still believe we can do that on a cross-party basis. In the end we’re going to have to go above David Cameron’s head and work with other Conservative MPs to see whether we can find a workable solution. We obviously have been talking to them over the past few months.’

The Labour leader said Mr Cameron’s decision to pull out of cross-party talks was a ‘historic mistake’ that would let down the victims of Press intrusion. Senior Conservative MP John Whittingdale, who chairs the Commons media committee, said there was a ‘strong chance’ that Mr Cameron will be defeated in the Commons on Monday by the new Lib-Lab alliance.

Tory MP Philip Davies said: ‘The future of Press freedom in this country is now under serious threat from an unholy alliance of Ed Miliband and Nick Clegg. The public should be very frightened at the prospect of politicians trying to regulate the Press.’

Conor Burns, a fellow Tory member of the committee, accused Mr Miliband and Mr Clegg of stitching up a ‘squalid little deal’ that would damage free speech in Britain.

Hacked Off executive director Brian Cathcart said Mr Cameron’s Royal Charter proposals ‘raises two fingers’ to those demanding reform in the wake of the exposure of phone-hacking by the Press.

A group of leading industry figures representing Britain’s biggest newspapers, hundreds of regional and local papers and all major magazine publishers, said in a statement that they shared the Prime Minister’s frustration at the way in which talks on the future of Press regulation had broken down and ‘legislation has been hijacked’.

‘The Prime Minister is right to reject statutory regulation of the Press – free of political control for 300 years – as fundamentally wrong in principle and unworkable in practice,’ they added.

Proposal: The Prime Minister said his proposals for an independent body, established by Royal Charter like the BBC, to oversee the system of Press self-regulation would provide 'the toughest regulation of the Press that this country has ever seen'

‘The industry has spent many weeks in negotiating a new independent system of self-regulation, based on the Leveson principles, which provides £1million fines and the toughest system of regulation in the western world. We have made major concessions in order to reach agreement, although there are elements of the proposed reforms – such as exemplary damages – to which we remain opposed. However, this need not stop a new regulator being put in place.

‘We agree with the Prime Minister that matters cannot be allowed to drift on and that we need now to deliver real change.

‘The UK’s newspaper and magazine publishing industry will rise to the challenge. We are ready to move with speed to establish a new system of tough, independent, effective self-regulation which delivers fully on the Leveson principles and will provide real protection for members of the public. We will aim to get the new regulator up and running as soon as possible.’ 

• Fraser Nelson, editor of the Spectator, Britain’s oldest political publication, made clear that it would boycott any system of state regulation, no matter what the consequences. ‘No matter how MPs vote, the Spectator will not sign up to any plan for state licensing of the media,’ he said.