Rishi Sunak pledges to repeal law that ‘seeks to coerce press and stifle free speech’

Rishi Sunak has promised to repeal a controversial law, which he says threatens to “stifle free speech”, if he becomes prime minister.

The Conservative leadership candidate said he would remove Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 from the statute books “as a matter of urgency”, describing it as an attempt to “coerce the press”.

Under the legislation, publishers could be forced to pay the legal costs of people who sue them, regardless of who wins.

Newspaper publishers have warned that the law – which was backed by celebrities including Hugh Grant and Gary Lineker as part of the Hacked Off campaign – would force local papers out of business and discourage the media from holding powerful people to account.

The legislation, passed in the wake of the Leveson Inquiry into media standards, has never been brought into force. The Conservatives promised to repeal it in their 2019 election campaign, but have so far failed to do so.

As the law currently stands, newspapers could be faced to pay both sides’ legal bills in defamation cases, win or lose, unless they are signed up to a state-backed regulator.

Only one state-backed regulator currently exists, and no national newspaper is signed up to it because publishers argue that state regulation is itself a barrier to press freedom.

In a letter to the News Media Association (NMA), which champions press freedom, Mr Sunak said: “I can confirm to you now that I will repeal section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act as a matter of urgency.

“It’s vital that we remove this measure, which seeks to coerce the press and stifle free speech, ahead of the next general election.”

Mr Sunak also pledged to give legal powers to the Government’s Digital Markets Unit to help level the playing field between news publishers and online platforms that make money by aggregating news.

The Government has previously threatened to force platforms such as Facebook and Google to pay for news content if they are not able to come to an agreement with publishers, but it has not passed legislation that would enable it to do so.

Owen Meredith, the chief executive of the NMA, said he was “pleased” with the assurances from Mr Sunak. The NMA has also approached Liz Truss to ask what she would do if she became prime minister.