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L33

Duty to Protect Press Freedom

Leveson Inquiry · An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · Issued 29 November 2012 · Addressed to: UK Government

Government responsePrime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street: Not accepted (Mar 2013)

DeliveryUK Government states no delivery position (Mar 2013)

Recommendation, verbatim from the inquiry

●Inquiry recommendation

In passing legislation to identify the legitimate requirements to be met by an independent regulator organised by the press, and to provide for a process of recognition and review of whether those requirements are and continue to be met, the law should also place an explicit duty on the Government to uphold and protect the freedom of the press.

Leveson Inquiry, An Inquiry into the Culture, Practices and Ethics of the Press · 29 Nov 2012 Source PDF →

Published evidence summary

AI-generated evidence summary

The Inquiry recommended placing a statutory duty on ministers to uphold press freedom. In March 2013, Prime Minister David Cameron stated that statutory regulation to create a recognition body was not necessary and would instead be achieved through a royal charter (David Cameron response, Mar 2013; David Cameron, Mar 2013). An explicit legal duty to uphold and protect press freedom is not mentioned in the sources (David Cameron response, Mar 2013; David Cameron, Mar 2013).

Sources

David Cameron, Mar 2013

AI-generated summary of the record on this page, checked by a second model and automatic checks, 1 Oct 2026.

Report-level response context

PM David Cameron responded to all 92 recommendations with a single statement accepting them "in principle" or "in part". No per-recommendation response was published.

Government response

●Prime Minister's Office, 10 Downing Street · Not accepted · 18 Mar 2013

Words of: David Cameron, Prime Minister, speech opening the House of Commons emergency debate on the Royal Charter on Press Conduct, 18 March 2013 (HC Deb vol 560 cols 632-634)

As I believe we have shown today, statutory regulation of our media, and statutory regulation to create a recognition body, is not necessary to achieve the Leveson principles. We can do it—indeed we will do it—via a royal charter.

Response document: Royal Charter on Press Conduct (House of Commons emergency debate)

Site note: The Prime Minister's speech opening the House of Commons emergency debate on the Royal Charter on Press Conduct, 18 March 2013, as recorded in the Official Report (HC Deb vol 560, cols 632 to 634). The GOV.UK copy of the speech is the script written before it was delivered; its wording differs, and one of its passages is not in the Official Report at all, so the site quotes the record. He speaks for the Government; the site files his words under the Prime Minister's Office.

Site note: The Prime Minister gives this passage once, for the report's proposals for statutory recognition of a press regulator as a whole (col 633). The same words are recorded on recommendations 27, 28, 29, 30, 32 and 33.

Delivery

●UK Government states no delivery position · 18 Mar 2013

Let me remind hon. Members why I felt that a full legislative response to Lord Justice Leveson’s report would be the wrong approach. I stated that there would be problems of necessity, practicality and fundamental principle. As I believe we have shown today, statutory regulation of our media, and statutory regulation to create a recognition body, is not necessary to achieve the Leveson principles. We can do it—indeed we will do it—via a royal charter.

From: Royal Charter on Press Conduct (House of Commons emergency debate), David Cameron, Prime Minister

How this page is built

The recommendation and the government responses are verbatim from primary documents. Delivery statements and other bodies' findings are shown in their own words, each with its source. The summary is written by this site and labelled as such. The Index does not paraphrase sources or characterise intent; it records what has been published.