Reform Of The Libel Laws

EDM number 2287 in 1992-93, proposed by Harry Barnes on 07/07/1993.

That this House strongly believes, in the light of the settlement of the legal action between the Prime Minister, Clare Latimer and the New Statesman and Society, that the laws relating to defamation and libel should be reviewed as a matter of urgency; notes that, in the New Statesman case, the journal's printers, wholesale distributors and its main retail outlet paid out damages and costs for an article that appeared in the New Statesman, that these costs are not recoverable whatever the result of subsequent legal proceedings and that these costs account for the bulk of the substantial debts incurred by the magazine; and therefore calls upon the Government to draw up legislation restricting libel proceedings to actions against authors and journals, rather than printers, distributors and retailers.

This motion has been signed by a total of 43 MPs.