Archive for lord lester
Libel reform bill set for spring publication
The Press Gazette reports: A newly published Ministry of Justice Structural Reform Plan shows that developing options for reform is expected to take from June this year until March next year. The plan gives as a milestone the publication next March of a “draft Defamation Bill for the reform of libel laws published for pre-legislative [...]
More details of Lord Lester’s libel reform bill released
Yesterday I covered the news that Liberal Democrat Lord Lester is going to table a bill to reform libel law. He’s now released details of what approach the bill will take:
Introduce a statutory defence of responsible publication on a matter of public interest;
Clarify the defences of justification and fair comment, renamed as ’truth’ and ‘honest opinion’;
Respond to [...]
Lib Dem peer to table libel reform bill
The Times Higher Education Supplement reports the promising news:
A Liberal Democrat peer is to launch a libel reform bill in the House of Lords that would offer greater protection for scientific debate against defamation claims.
Lord Lester of Herne Hill said he was introducing the private member’s bill in order to encourage the government to act [...]
Libel law reform proposed by Lib Dem Lord Lester
The Press Gazette reports:
Human rights barrister Lord Lester has drawn up a defamation reform bill which he says has cross-party support and would be available to whoever wins next year’s general election.
According to the Sunday Times, the Lib Dem peer’s “moderate” bill would tackle the issues of libel tourism and the huge costs to publishers [...]
