Ministers reject newspaper industry plans for Press regulator

Ministers today rejected proposals from newspapers for an industry-backed Press regulator following the phone-hacking scandals.

Culture Secretary Maria Miller was instead expected to tell MPs that the Government may amend its own blueprint to make it more acceptable to editors.

Final decisions are to be postponed until October 30 pending an attempt to find compromises in specific problem areas. These include a proposed system of arbitration, looking again at questions such as who bears the costs and avoiding vexatious claims.

Decisions were being taken at a meeting of the Privy Council this afternoon. Both sides have proposed regulators backed by a Royal charter. Cabinet minister Danny Alexander all but confirmed the industry plan was ruled out at a sub-committee yesterday. “There are a few remaining ‘i’s to be dotted and ‘t’s to be crossed following that discussion,” he said.

Critics say the Government proposals, published in March after cross-party talks, would give too much power to parliament and powerful groups to interfere with newspapers.

A delay in the final decisions is intended to let the dust settle from a row between Labour leader Ed Miliband and the Daily Mail over an article criticising his late father.

A serving Met police officer was arrested today by detectives investigating alleged corrupt payments to public officials. The 47-year-old man and a woman, aged 48, were held at their Surrey home by officers from Operation Elveden, Scotland Yard said. The officer is based in Specialist Operations, which includes counter terrorism and royalty protection.