Liberal Democrat peer Lord Lester to table libel reform bill

The Times Higher Education Supplement reports the promising news to protect freedom of speech from Lib Dem peer Lord Lester:

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 quickly on libel reform. He said his aim was to trigger the formation of a committee to take detailed evidence on the topic. He added that he hoped the government would adopt the final version of the bill.

Both the Conservatives and the Lib Dems made pre-election pledges to reform libel law in the wake of the Culture, Media and Sport Committee’s Press standards, privacy and libel report, which highlighted the current law’s potential to stifle scientific debate.