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Libel Laws

I congratulate the Government on introducing that measure—I think it was this Government that introduced it—because it allows the individual a chance to fight back if he feels that his privacy has been breached or that he has been libelled. My hon. Friend the Member for Surrey Heath spoke about Lord Hoffmann's remarks on contingency fees in the House of Lords. In the same judgment, Lord Hoffmann said that the right to expression does not trump the right to privacy or the right not to be libelled, that there must be a balance and that one was not to exclude the other. One good suggestion made by the right hon. Member for Rotherham was that of a small claims court for libel action. I had not heard that idea before today. The MP whose local newspaper has misreported him wants some little vehicle to make his point. The Press Complaints Commission still has a long way to go to establish its credibility fully on that front, so such a vehicle has some attraction. If some inquiry goes into it, as the hon. Member for North Norfolk (Norman Lamb) suggested, I hope that it will be on the agenda.