The infamous Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 – which would have punished publishers refusing to sign up to a state approved system of regulation by forcing them to pay the costs of a libel or privacy action even if they won – has finally been repealed through the Media Act 2024. It became law just before the 2019-24 Parliament was dissolved in May.

Speaking at the Second Reading of the Bill, Guy had this warning:

“Section 40 was one of the most odious and shameful pieces of legislation ever put on to the statute book in this country in the modern democratic age. It sought, for the first time since 1695, to hold a gun to the head of the free, independent press in the UK and say, “Join a state-backed regulator or we will close you down”. That would have had the real-world commercial impact of forcing publishers, particularly regional and local ones, to pay the costs of a libel or privacy action even if they won. It would have punished newspapers and their websites for telling the truth and utterly destroyed investigative journalism.”

He added:

“The result of all that is that it has severely dented the UK’s once-shining reputation for press freedom. If it had ever been implemented, it would have been the day that liberty died in this country. For all those reasons, it must not be allowed to stand a moment longer on the statute book. The repeal of this abominable legislation is long overdue and all credit is due to the Government.”

The full text of the debate is here.

ENDS