Speculation that PM’s Press regulation proposal ‘could scupper’ separate Scots watchdog

IT IS being speculated that plans unveiled yesterday by Prime Minister, David Cameron, on Press regulation “could scupper [First Minister] Alex Salmond’s proposal to set up a separate Scottish watchdog”.

Writes David Maddox in The Scotsman today: “The proposals for a Royal Charter were published by the Tories yesterday and received a cautious welcome from coalition partners the Liberal Democrats.

“The measures would create a body to cover all of the UK that would verify whether a new regulator set up by the industry met requirements laid out by Lord Justice Leveson after his inquiry into media ethics last year.”

A five-person ‘expert panel’ is currently considering how Leveson’s report into Press standards – issued at the end of last year – might be implemented in Scotland, which has the authority to operate the regulation of the Press separately to the rest of the UK.